Bimonthly Board Reports

May-June 2023

General maintenance of the association

Development Fund

With the Development Fund, IFSA supports individuals and LCs in organising activities or attending events. Every month a new Open Call is released, and the Board evaluates the applications. In May 2023, 1.927,28 Euros were allocated to support three individual members through the development fund to join IFSS 2023. In June, there was a separate Development Fund for Officials, where 1.734 Euros were allocated for 2 individuals.  In total, there were 3.661,29 Euros allocated in April/May and June between 4 individuals. More information can be found on the website: ifsa.net/development-fund/

Interim Report

Interim is the mid-year meeting for IFSA officials which usually takes place between late December and early February for a week. This year, the meeting took place from the 1st to the 15th of February in Makassar, Indonesia hosted by the IFSA LC UNHAS. 

Officials had an opportunity to discuss the results of the first half of the term, learn about other officials’ work, gain motivation, and brainstorm ideas for the remaining term. In addition to the work outcomes, the Interim OC made sure to provide participants with interesting lectures from the local researchers as well as excursions around Makassar City. This all played a positive role in the IFSA officials’ meeting achievements, which are described further in the report. 

Read about what was discussed during the meeting here: https://ifsa.net/interim-2023-report/.

ForestNavigator Stakeholder Board workshop

In June, the EU-funded ForestNavigator project held its first Stakeholder Board workshop at IIASA headquarters in Laxenburg, Austria. It’s the project’s goal to model policy pathways and enhance the contribution of the European forestry sector to achieve climate neutrality, also beyond the project lifetime. Therefore, IFSA was invited to join the ForestNavigator Stakeholder Board on behalf of youth and young professionals in the forestry sector. Johanna Klapper, the IFSA Executive Secretary, represented IFSA and the young generation participated in the two-day workshop. The Stakeholder Board consists of 21 members from various fields, including forest owners, policy makers, NGOs and civil society, researchers, etc. and is involved in the discussion and design of the process and outcomes of the project.

Barbara Öllerer, current IFSA Gender Commissioner, and Sylvannisa Putri Nina, IFSA HoC Communication 2020/21, were also present at the workshop as co-organisers and co-facilitators in their role at the Institute of Forest, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)

More information about the project: https://www.forestnavigator.eu/

Official of the Month

The Board has elected the Official of the Month for May and June. For May, it is the whole IUFRO Sub-Commission: Magdalena Jovanovic, Erlita Indah Savitri, Jair Granados Chacón and Benjamín Navarro. For June, it was the Southern African Regional Representative, Chrispus Ongom. You can read more about them here for May and here for June. Congratulations to all awarded!

Plans for the next period

IFSS

As the biggest annual IFSA event, IFSS is just around the corner, we as the board are very excited on the one hand and also very busy preparing everything on the other hand. We hope to sum up the still ongoing term precisely and to create a smooth transition into the next term with new amazing IFSA officials. We are especially looking forward to meeting so many IFSA members in person! Hope to see you soon!

General Assembly

As part of IFSS, the Board will be facilitating the General Assembly during which the IFSA members will vote, among other points, on the IFSA RoPs, the new budget, the IFSA Sub-Commissions, and the new IFSA Board and Head of Commissions. In order to ensure a successful and efficient General Assembly, the Board is currently preparing all relevant documents and Open Calls to be sent out to all IFSA members.

Board’s work in:

a) Internal sector

1. 2023 IFSA Job Fair 

On the 27th of May, 2023, around 120 IFSA members joined the 2023 IFSA Virtual Job Fair. It was the second installment of the event, after the first one in March 2022, where global organizations were invited to present their job and internship opportunities to our members.

This year, the event focused on regional opportunities with the theme “Transcending Regional Boundaries”. We invited 12 organizations from Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and Europe to share their opportunities with the IFSA members. 

Read the event report and the recordings on YouTube! 

Internal Department March-April Bi-monthly Report 

Every month, the Internal Department releases a bi-monthly report where the Communication and Capacity Development Commissions share their work for the period. 

Visit this link to read the Internal Department’s March-April Bi-Monthly Report! 

Plans for the next period

Internal Department Meeting

The Internal Department will have its last bi-monthly internal department meeting in July 2023. The officials will discuss the remaining tasks for the term such as the bi-monthly and annual reports, strategy indicators, plans for the next term, and more. 

Internal Department Annual Report 

Since the beginning of the term, the Internal Department has always fostered transparency. It will be the first time that the Internal Department will create an annual report which will be presented to the members during the 51st IFSS in Germany this August 2023. 

b) External sector

1. IFSA delegation at the UNFF 18

The 18th session of the United Nations Forum on Forest took place at the UN Headquarters in New York from the 8th to the 13th of May 2023. The IFSA delegation was composed of 12 delegates from 9 different countries. We had delegates from Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Germany, Brazil, Singapore, Gambia, and Nepal.  

At UNFF, IFSA holds the responsibility of representing the Mayor Group Children and Youth which makes us a key stakeholder by providing inputs to the discussions. The IFSA delegation led by Binsar Shiontang (the alternate focal point of the MGCY) delivered three interventions, created content for social media, and developed an amazing report which we encourage you all to read.

UNFF18 was a great learning experience for all of the delegates present and was the perfect place for the delegates to connect with country representatives while strengthening the connection with our current partners from the Collaborative Partnership on Forest. As MGCY we had the chance to organise a side event for which we thank the UNFF secretariat.

In the image attached you can see a grasp of one of the bilateral meetings the delegates had the chance to experience, there we can see the IFSA delegation having lunch with the Australian representative and former IFSA President Jesse Mahoney and IUFRO secretariat representative and IFSA alumni Andre Purret. 

Meet IFSA Delegates to 18th Session UNFF 

Delegation report: 2023 MGCY Delegation Report.pdf

SFI/PEFC conference

For the first time in a long time, an IFSA delegation was present at a private sector conference, this event was organised by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and PEFC international. A seven-member delegation arrived in Vancouver, Canada to participate as youth delegates, and IFSA president Agustin Rosello was invited as a speaker for the main session titled “Growing a resilient workforce”. 

IFSA delegation had the opportunity to organise a side event titled “Cafe Scientifique: Envisioning the future of forestry together”, this side event had great feedback from the youth delegation and the SFI team since normally youth takes an observer role but IFSA took the lead and had an active participation. 

This event was highly successful to build movement in the North American region, many youth delegates went back to their Universities with the motivation to develop IFSA Local Committees while others decided to take leading roles in their already active ones. IFSA delegates also managed to engage with several institutions active in the region and we look forward to further collaboration with the SFI team.

TFD Field Dialogue in Pekanbaru and IFSA at SB 58

Two IFSA delegates were supported to join the Field Dialogue in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, launched by The Forest Dialogue. 

Delegates had a great opportunity to learn about Tree Plantations in the Landscape (TPL) Initiative, which aims to observe planted forests and plantations and stakeholders’ engagement in the field. Furthermore, IFSA representatives had a chance to communicate with other IFSA apartments present at the event such as RECOFTC and APRIL.

IFSA highly appreciates the support provided by TFD and looking forward to further cooperation!

Another exciting recent event where IFSA was highly represented is SB 58, which was happening from 5 to 15 June in Bonn, Germany. IFSA was represented by HoC Partners, who joined the event in person, and 7 online participants, who had an opportunity to observe the work of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) UNFCCC. 

The reports for these amazing events are coming soon, keep an eye on the IFSA website and social media!

Plans for the next period

For the last two months of the term, the external department is not planning any big delegations or participation at external events. Our work will be focused on the internal work of the department by organising workshops on Delegations, Indigenous Communities and other relevant topics.  

On August 3rd at 16:00 CEST we will launch a collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on the “Trees in Cities Challenge” initiative. This will be an amazing opportunity for IFSA members from all around the world to take an active role in the urban forestry planning schemes of their cities. 

For August, we plan to organise meetings with the leadership teams of our partner organisations to gather feedback of the work done this term. During September some External Department officials will be travelling around Europe and meeting partner organisations in person. 

The rest of our External Officials are constantly preparing the IFSA engagement at several events that will take place soon after changeover, some examples of these for you to be aware of are the WFF flagship event, UNFCCC COP28, GLF Nairobi, and many more.

Last but not least IFSA together with IAAS will be leading the youth engagement at the EBU scientific conference which will take place in Vienna the first weekend of September, keep an eye on the Open Call. 

c) Membership sector

Membership Department meetings

In May, the department meeting was skipped. So in this bimonthly period, only one department meeting took place – in June. Since the regional meetings started to take place in March till nowadays, new Regional Representatives have been preselected for the next term. We welcomed them at the department meeting. Among other topics the department talked about were regional updates, new ideas, a summary of the LC data collection, etc.

1. Applications review

In this bimonthly period, we received 3 membership applications. The Council has reviewed them and sent them back with comments to be implemented. Once the applicants do that, everything will be ready for their acceptance to the IFSA family.

1. Accepting new LCs

Throughout May and June, the IFSA family was extended by one new LC – FORMSA UNIOSUN from Nigeria. By that, Nigeria secured its primacy in the number of LCs. Currently, there are 12 LCs in Nigeria, 16 in Northern Africa, and 141 in IFSA at large. We are excited about welcoming LC FORMSA UNIOSUN to the family and looking forward to new additions soon!

1. LC data collection

By the end of May, the collection period ended for LCs’ data. In the end, we received data from 94 LCs which makes 67.1% of all IFSA’s LCs. It is 13.4% less than the last term, however, it is enough to make informed estimations about the evolution of IFSA’s membership.

The results will be summarised and presented at the General Assembly during the IFSS in Germany. What can be said already now is that there are two regions within which 100% LCs have filled in the collection survey. Those are Northern Africa and Southern Europe – the very same regions where 100% LCs filled in the survey last year as well. By this, we would like to express our gratitude to these regions and their RRs who have done an excellent job!

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

Although the department meeting in May was skipped, the June one took place on a regular basis. The Council has revised the incoming membership applications as usual, as well as accepted one of the previously received applications and IFSA expanded by one new LC. As planned, the LC data collection ended in May and now the department analyses the data which will be presented at the General Assembly in Germany this August.

What wasn’t achieved from the plans of the last period, is the LC Project of the Month. Although one LC project was received in May, we failed in its revision and publication as LC Project of the Month. By this, we deeply apologise to those who spent their time working on its submission, we will try our best to make this not repeat in the future. 

In June, there was no LC project received, so there is no LC Project of the Month June.

Plans for the next period

Membership Department meetings

As mentioned above, the Membership Department meetings will continue on a monthly basis and also in the next bimonthly period.

Revision of incoming membership applications

The Council will continue to review the incoming applications and further the process.

LC data analysis and report

In the following bimonthly period, the department will summarise the results of the LC data in a short report that will be presented and published during the GA in Germany this August.

Publication of Local Committees’ Projects 2022/23

During the GA in Germany, also the collection of the LC projects will be presented and published. This will be a collection of all LC projects submitted to LC Project of the Month. Its objective is to inspire other LCs and to exchange ideas for new projects for the future.