Environmental Forestry

Description

This course provides an overview of the broader environmental and cultural issues associated with plantation forestry in Aotearoa New Zealand within the framework of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the goods (such as food and fibre) and services (such as water yield) that the human population derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystems and are fundamentally important because the well-being of human society is totally reliant on them. Forests are particularly important as they provide many key ecosystem services that are not necessarily provided by other comparable land uses such as farming. This course will focus on a range of the ecosystem services provided by plantation forestry including biodiversity conservation, soil and water conservation, and cultural services. However, fibre production and carbon sequestration will not be covered here as they are covered in other courses. We will also address the policy frameworks within which ecosystem services are managed in Aotearoa New Zealand. We will be placing a particular emphasis on bicultural competence and confidence as Māori are key players in New Zealand forestry as forest and forest land owners, as forest managers and as a people to whom forests are an essential part of life.