International Forestry Students' Association

IFSA - International Forestry Students' Association
Seat	Freiburg im Breisgau , Germany
founding year	1990
Official language	English
president	Amos Amanubo, Uganda
Vice President	Damiano Cilio, Italy
Secretary General	Kirsten Langmaid, Australia
Treasurer	Catharina Schmidt, Germany
advice	Maximilian Schubert, Germany Jia Yi Chew, Malaysia Daniel Guerra, Costa Rica

The International Forestry Students' Association e. V. (IFSA) is an association of student councils from forest science and economy worldwide with the aim of promoting exchange among forest students and offering extracurricular activities with international topics. It represents around 10,000 students.

development

The development of IFSA began with the International Forestry Students' Symposium (IFSS), first organized by students in Great Britain in 1973 . This international meeting of forest students enjoyed increasing popularity in the following years and took place in other countries from 1986. In order to deepen the cooperation and communication between the students beyond the symposium, it was finally decided to establish fixed structures. As a result, the IFSA was founded as part of the symposium in Lisbon in 1990. Since then, the regional IFSA groups have organized the meeting, which also functions as the annual general meeting . Since the late 1990s, the organization has become increasingly professional, which is particularly evident in the conclusion of numerous partnerships with other organizations, as well as in a multiplication of the budget and a stronger focus on strategic elements in the planning of activities.

aims

According to the statutes, the IFSA pursues the objectives ,

to enrich the formal training of forestry specialists, especially in terms of a broader perspective through activities, exchanges of information, seminars, international and regional meetings and the like;
to help provide members with highly professional training;
cooperation through networks between forestry students and forestry, as well as related areas of the economy to promote, such as agriculture, law, etc., and other organizations whose activities affect forestry ( development aid , climate policy , protection of species , etc.).

structure

The structure of the organization is three-tiered with an international level, 8 regions and over 120 local groups ( Local Committees ). The annual general meeting acts as the decision-making body, in which the local committees are represented by their individual members. Functional organs of the association are

The board, which is composed of
- the board of directors, consisting of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary;
- the Council, composed of the External Affairs Council, the Internal Affairs Council and the Regional Affairs Council
the commissions (in the fields of communication, politics, capacities )
the liaison officers who oversee the individual partnerships
Regional representatives (usually two mandate holders per region);
the international secretariat (based in Freiburg, where the association is also registered), which is the central point of coordination.

Programs and activities

Commissions

“Commissions” form the institutional framework for joint activities on an international level. All IFSA local committee students are free to participate in these working groups . Each commission strives to achieve certain goals that are related to the overall goals of the organization as a whole. The most important commissions in recent years are

the communication commission, which coordinates and oversees all internal communication of the organization,
the policy commission, which enables students to participate in international conferences,
the capacity committee, which facilitates internal trainings and is responsible for the further education of the members

In addition, the so-called IFSA-SAN (Supporter and Alumni-Network) was founded in 2017, which looks after former and honorary members and handles some financial matters.

Symposia

In addition to the IFSS, the annual symposium, the conference of elected officials has been held since 1998 in the middle of the financial year ( interim ). Furthermore, regional meetings take place annually in spring, which enable students to meet in an organized manner within the 8 regions.

Local level activities

Local committees sometimes offer a wide variety of activities, ranging from seminars and excursions to bilateral student exchanges and various leisure activities.

Partner organizations

Professional partners

IFSA is a partner of some of the most important international forest policy organizations such as IUFRO , CIFOR , EFI and the SILVA network of forest science professors in Europe; other international partners are the ITTO , the FAO and the Global Landscapes Forum . The organization has observer status at the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe MCPFE and represents the Major Group "Youth and Children" at the United Nations Forest Forum UNFF . IFSA now has the status of Special Consultant within the United Nations .

Student partner

The IFSA is part of the Informal Forum of International Student Organizations (IFISO) and coordinates activities such as fundraising, strategic planning or village concept projects together with other student organizations involved there.

IFSA in Germany

In Germany, local committees are represented at the following universities and forestry colleges:

IFSA in Austria

In Austria, the IFSA is represented by only one local committee at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna . The IFSA LC BOKU , together with the local committee of the Technical University of Munich, organized the 44th International Forestry Students' Symposium .