COVID-19 Info Center

The outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been causing serious discomfort in several regions of the world. This pandemic has forced IFSA to adapt its planning to the current situation. Given the international nature of IFSA largely based on travelling, one of the main implications of the lockdown following the outbreak of Coronavirus has been the cancellation and postponement of physical meetings and events at least for the remaining part of the IFSA term 2019/2020.

In times where nothing is as usual and where everything changes on a frequent basis, an IFSA COVID-19 Info Center has been created on the IFSA website to coordinate the communication between our LCs and members and to promote an IFSA COVID-19 Action Plan.

The IFSA COVID-19 Action Plan has been developed as a response to the current situation to allow our members to engage and safely join from their homes in diverse online activities.

Relying on the online communication platforms that IFSA has already been using for a long time, this will ensure a continuation of our mandate and the maintenance of our personal relationships within our network.

If you want to know more about what the next event on the IFSA calendar is or if you want to receive the most updated news about our organisation, head over the IFSA COVID-19 Info Center: webinars, podcast, online regional meetings, social media campaigns and much more will be available from there!

Here, you will also find a FAQ section which will answer to any doubt you might have, from IFSA travel policy to suggestions on how to organise your next event!

We are aware that an online event can’t give you the same experience as an in-person one, but we are sure that you will have a great time and that you won’t miss anything this year!

Upcoming Online Events and Activities

Calendar of Events

M Mon

T Tue

W Wed

T Thu

F Fri

S Sat

S Sun

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

0 events,

View Calendar

Go to Full Calendar

F.A.Q.

The IFSA COVID-19 Info Center has been created with the purpose to facilitate the communication within IFSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we will promote the IFSA COVID-19 Action Plan activities (check our calendar) and any news about our organisation will be published here, whether on internal matters or related to our external partners.

And, of course, always follow our social media!

IFSA, thanks to the officials of the External Department, is constantly in contact with its partners. This allows us to receive frequent updates from their sides. To be informed about cancelled, postponed or new events, please check the “Partner Events” section in the “Events Updates”.

The activities planned with the IFSA COVID-19 Action Plan rely on the online communication platforms that IFSA has already been using for a long time. According to the differences among our regions, many options have been implemented to make sure that as many people as possible will be able to have access to them.

These activities will use different formats and will cover different topics, based on four main categories:

  • Webinars
  • Podcasts
  • Social media campaigns
  • Remote Regional Meetings

To follow our events, check our calendar!

Unfortunately, no Regional Meeting will be held in this IFSA term because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Considering the key role of Regional Meetings for our Regions, we are trying to make everything possible to give continuity to our associative life, although limited by the measures taken to stop the virus. Therefore, while the OCs are evaluating possible postponement of the Regional Meetings in Autumn/Winter (in any case before the end of 2020), this IFSA term will see a different format of Regional Meetings: the Remote Regional Meetings (RRMs)!

Due to the current impossibility to travel, the RRMs will be online and condensed into a 3-days event, which will span all the main topics and activities usually seen in a Regional Meeting. If you wish to become the next Regional Representative of your Region for 2020/21 or your LC is excited to host the Regional Meeting in 2021, you will have the opportunity to run and be selected during the Remote Regional Meetings!

The organisation of a Remote Regional Meeting does not exclude the organisation of a postponed in-person Regional Meeting in the second part of the year if the global situation will be solved by then.

Because of global travel restrictions and internal measures to Canada, IFSS Quebec 2020 will not happen this summer. As for the Regional Meetings, we will consider the option of organising an online IFSS, where you could go through all the main topics and activities usually seen during IFSS.

Given the fact that the General Assembly (GA) of IFSA has to meet at least once per year and that no IFSS will take place this year, an online GA will be organised to facilitate the governance of IFSA and ensure a continuity with the upcoming IFSA term 2020/2021. During such an occasion, if you wish to become an IFSA Official for 2020/21 or your LC is excited to host the Regional Meeting in 2021, you will have the opportunity to run and be voted! Follow our channels for updates

Unfortunately, no in-person meeting will be supported nor encouraged by IFSA before the end of this IFSA term (approximately August 2020) because of safety reasons. Even if your country has lifted all the restrictions, we wouldn’t advise any in-person meeting as long as travelling is not allowed in the majority of the countries and the situation is not back to normality worldwide.

In the case your LC is planning to organise an in-person meeting after the end of this IFSA term, we kindly ask you to put the event organisation on hold until further notice.

As an alternative to in-person meetings, we warmly invite you to think about switching to an online meeting where you can invite the LCs from your neighbouring countries and whoever else you wish! (see next question)

IFSA encourages and supports all LCs and members that are willing to organise an online activity for your IFSA friends and colleagues. For this reason, all the online platforms that IFSA has (such as Google Meet, Zoom, social media and many more) are at your disposal. IFSA can support your event providing help at each organisational phase (from drafting the concept idea to elaborating an advertisement campaign, to promoting it). You have several formats and options you can choose from: webinars, games, quizzes, forum discussions, social media engagement and any other creative method you like!

To have more information or to start planning your online activities, get in touch with us writing an email to covid19.support@ifsa.net.

If you have a question that isn’t answered in this section, we warmly invite you to contact us writing an e-mail to covid19.support@ifsa.net. In the case you want to receive more information regarding an organised activity, you can contact the focal person/people for that activity (you can find their name(s) and e-mail(s) in the activity event on the calendar section).

Resources

Twitter Feed

IFSA events cancelled due the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Official IFSA events:

High-level environmental & forestry sector conferences and events:

Follow developments around COVID-19 and alternative activities
on our Social Media Channels.