Sutrofor, European Erasmus Mundus Course in Sustainable Tropical Forestry - Second year - Ethics and responsible production and trade in tropical forest products and services

Course objectives: The aim of the course is to introduce the fundamental principles and essential elements that should be included in any research aimed at investigating the market of forest products and ser-vices at international and national level, with a special focus on ethical issues and the role of Governments and public authorities, traders, wood and paper industries, large retailers and in general private companies, consumers, NGOs, etc. The course is also aimed at training the stu-dents on methods for developing projects to practically implement ethics in forestry.

Course contents: This module requires students to learn: a) research methodologies adequate to the field of ethics in forestry and to the responsible trade in forest products and services; and b) methods to de-velop projects and initiatives for practical implementation of instruments to promote responsible use of forest resources. The course therefore includes training in: (i) steps required developing a research proposal; (ii) identification of hypotheses and questions to be addressed; (iii) literature review and available database; (iv) selection and application of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods (e.g. sampling methods, questionnaire design, interview techniques, etc.); (v) critical appraisal of the assembled material; (vi) evaluation tools and procedures; (vii) economet-ric and statistical methods; (viii) mathematical programming models; (ix) valuation approach; (x) data recording and processing; (xi) writing research reports; (xii) developing projects and initia-tives to practically implement responsible forestry tools within private and public organisations.

Teaching and learning methods: The course consists of theoretical lectures followed by practical exercises dem-onstrating methods, techniques and tools for conducting surveys, carrying out research activities and developing projects.

Examination: Discussion of a written research plan or project about the issues developed during the other courses. The research plan can be used as a basis for starting the thesis preparation work. Internal examiner.

Competences acquired: (i) Knowledge of the main steps required in carrying out a research project; (ii) ability in planning and conducting direct and indirect surveys by using different tools and methods; (iii) ca-pacity to critically assess the usefulness of the methods and the reliability of the collected data, as well as the significance of results; (iv) ability to discuss and compare data obtained by differ-ent qualitative and quantitative data collection methods; (v) ability in presenting research results and in preparing a research report; (vi) capacity to design and develop a project for implement-ing, within a private or a public organisation, environmental and social responsibility tools.

Course homepage: www.agraria.unipd.it

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