International conference on forestry training in the Congo Basin opens

As one of the world’s major reservoirs of biodiversity, the forests of the Congo Basin require trained and skilled human resources to ensure their sustainable management. This is the focus of the International Conference on Forestry Training: Addressing the Challenges of Training for Sustainably Managing the Congo Basin Forests, which started today (5 March 2018) in Douala, Cameroon.

The Congo Basin subregion harbours the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest—with an area of more than 2 million square kilometres. At the conference’s opening ceremony, ITTO Executive Director Dr Gerhard Dieterle highlighted the importance of trained human resources for improving forest management practices, increasing the efficiency of timber-processing and creating state-of-the-art wood applications. He noted the innovative approach of the training modules to be launched at the conference, one designed for training at the university level and the other focused on technical aspects of sustainable forest management (SFM), including the use of ITTO’s criteria and indicators for the sustainable management of tropical forests.