Fri, October 7, 2016 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM See description. Prof. Jeff Sayer, James Cook University
25 years after the Rio Summit and a decade after the Copenhagen COP action to conserve tropical forests still disappoints. Political commitments have been made but are not reflected in action on the ground. Forests are the object of international diplomacy and civil society advocacy but their fate is often in the hands of people who have short-term political time horizons.
Forest stewardship requires solutions to long-term complex – even wicked – problems. Instead of building strong institutions funds are allocated to short-term band-aid solutions.
I will argue that in recent decades the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of the generalist and that in depth competence in managing forests has declined. We are in a world where arguments that appeal to emotions prevail over sound analysis and that evidence is no longer driving policy making.