Symposium on "Close to Nature Forestry - Practices for Asia-Pacific Towards the Millennium Development Goal Challenges"

Close to Nature, Malaysia
(© Courtesy: Dr. Daniel Baskaran, APAFRI)

Date and venue: 17 - 20 December 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The German Forestry Alumni Network (GAForN) Symposium on "Close to Nature Forestry - Practices for Asia-Pacific Towards the Millennium Development Goal Challenges" is being jointly organized by the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Forestry (CeTSAF), Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany; University of Dresden, Tharandt, Germany and The Asia-Pacific Association of Forestry Research Institute (APAFRI), in Malaysia with the financial support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) targeting the scientists and practitioner German Alumni from the Asia-Pacific region.

Objectives of the Symposium

The main objective of the symposium is to review the current state of art of close to nature forestry in the Asia-Pacific region and to develop future strategies for scientific collaborations in integrating CNF into current forest management practices. While the specific objectives are –


  • Bringing scientists and practioners together to share their experience in close to nature forestry and forest management in the region
  • Develop collaborative projects related to CNF- proposals between interested countries
  • To establish and operationalize the German-Alumni Forestry Networks in Asia-Pacific region



Thematic scope


  • Genetics and silvicultural tools applied in close to nature forestry;
  • Establishment of ecologically stable forest stands; natural regeneration of forests;
  • Tending aimed at improving the structure, stability of forests, quality of production and maintenance of tree species composition;
  • Site and ecological preconditions of close to nature forestry; assessment of the present structure of forest stands from the potential one, taking into account diversity and ecological stability as a basis for forest management planning;
  • Environmentally sound forest operations; ecologically acceptable technologies for forest roads construction;
  • Policy and economic aspects of close to nature forestry (notably the increasingly global nature of wood markets); characteristics and assessment of present methods of sustainable forest management.



In addition to the presentations, there will be ample time for discussions and exchange during the group works and field trips.


Target groups

The invited participants are requested to take over clearly defined responsibilities of submitting a full paper in line with the above mentioned “Thematic Scope”. Invited participants will be requested to paper a country report together with their country fellows to provide the background materials for the symposium. The country report includes- a) current state and challenges of implementing close to nature forestry and forest management in the country; b) history of forest management; c) forest policy relevant to close to nature forestry; and d) perspectives of close to nature forestry in the country. There will also be key notes and overview papers presentations by renowned experts.

The participants of the symposium are mainly the graduates from German Universities, coming from the Asia-Pacific region. Preferences will be given particularly those who are in responsible position in forestry in their countries and are involved in research corresponding to close to nature forestry and forest management.

Registration, Costs and support

This symposium is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD-Deutscher Akademischer Ausstauschdienst). Travel and accommodation of all the selected participants will be fully covered by the organizers..

Download Call for Papers of the GAForN Symposium 2008 in Malaysia.

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