No, no that is fine everyone, I really do enjoy being shot down all
the time. I can feel my self esteem soaring like a sea gull that has
just been fed an aspirin, or shot.

But besides all that, I want to say "G'day Emma!"

My work here is done. But before I go, Geoff - your comments about the
beer have only just come to my attention and I think that you'll have
to buy me any ale my friend. You shouldn't have put it down in writing
mate, you'll regret it!

Hi Everyone,

Here is a short summary of what's been happening in UQ.

Activities since the symposium in Argentina and Brazil:

o A one hour presentation about the IFSS in 2006 and the IFSA
was conducted at two campuses of UQ, as part of the faculty of
Natural and Rural Systems Management (NRSM) seminar series. This
also served as a feedback and recruitment session, to give UQ
students the opportunity to become actively involved in IFSA.
Unfortunately, there were limited numbers of students who attended
both these sessions. However, some students have shown interest in
IFSA and the symposium. Also, some students are external and could
not attend the presentations.
o Identified two students who have an interest to attend the
IFSS in South Africa in 2007. Provided these students with more
information about IFSA.
o Sent a report on the IFSS – written by the Australian 2006
IFSS delegates - to the head of school of NRSM, UQ. The report was
also circulated to a number of students.
o Identified potential for IFSA student involvement in a
forestry project in the Philippines.

I am still waiting to hear if UQ – NRSM LC is a member of IFSA.

Lastly, I am aiming to encourage and find more students who would
like to become actively involved in IFSA.

Kind regards,

Melissa.

My turn,

Thanks Melissa.

Activities since the symposium in Argentina and Brazil:

* An hour presentation was given by Geoff Roberts, Geoff Kay and Joe
Henry focused on the recent IFSS held in Latin America. In addition,
Robyn Sakara, Heath Synott, (and Amy Davison) presented the outcomes
of the recent IFA student focused seminar organised by Sam Citeron at
Melbourne. The presentations were well recieved by the students and
ANU staff who were present.

* During the coming week, ANU LC and IFSA Oceania matters will be
discussed with the head of SRES, ANU, to define the relationship that
these organisations can have together.

Oceania Matters:

* The IFSS report was completed and sent out to appropriate sponsors,
along with a cover letter and a certificate of appreciation. Some of
the sponsors were called to recount the proceedings of the IFSS as
well. An outcome of this will be a publication in The Forester, the
IFA's journal, at the request of the IFA.

* Fiscal matters are being addressed, although due to the logistics of
this and the time constraints on those involved, this is still a work
in progress.

* It appears that New Zealand has only one forestry school at a
university in Canterbury. Contact details have been taken for further
action in the future.


(Elspeth, don't worry, I will do the formating as the template suggests)

Cheers,
Joe

hello all!

Sorry this has taken so long, but it is ok the hard work is nearly over!
Here is what melbourne has been up to....

Melbourne LC Report

After returning home from the symposium Elspeth gave a presentation at
Melbourne University on our wonderful IFSS adventure. The presentation was
open to all students, and it was attended by a small number of interested
and devoted students. This was followed up with a small article and photo
in Melbourne University’s Uni News (October edition).

On the 7th of September Melbourne LC hosted a gathering with forestry
students from ANU and Melbourne University. The evening provided the
opportunity to meet other students studying forestry and fun was had by
all.
This was followed by the regional meeting, in which the budget for the
following year was discussed, followed by editing of the symposium report
for the sponsors.

On the 23rd of August, 2006, the Institute of Foresters Australia, in
collaboration with Sam Citroen of the University of Melbourne, organised a
seminar on the topic 'The Future of Forestry Education in Australia'.
Declining student numbers enrolled in tertiary forestry courses and a
deficit of qualified professional foresters in the workforce has been an
ongoing significant issue for forest management in Australia. This
seminar-workshop presented a new perspective to the issue - that of the
students'.

The seminar provided a brief overview of the current structure and
short-term future outlook of the ANU and Melbourne forestry degrees.
Current students from Melbourne and ANU presented their views and ideas on
forestry education in Australia. The main focus centred on the role that
undergraduates can play in shaping a better future for forestry education,
in partnership with educational institutions, government, industry and
other forest-related organisations.

Good luck with exams everyone!

Kate

hello all!

Sorry this has taken so long, but it is ok the hard work is nearly over!
Here is what melbourne has been up to....

Melbourne LC Report

After returning home from the symposium Elspeth gave a presentation at
Melbourne University on our wonderful IFSS adventure. The presentation was
open to all students, and it was attended by a small number of interested
and devoted students. This was followed up with a small article and photo
in Melbourne University’s Uni News (October edition).

On the 7th of September Melbourne LC hosted a gathering with forestry
students from ANU and Melbourne University. The evening provided the
opportunity to meet other students studying forestry and fun was had by
all.
This was followed by the regional meeting, in which the budget for the
following year was discussed, followed by editing of the symposium report
for the sponsors.

On the 23rd of August, 2006, the Institute of Foresters Australia, in
collaboration with Sam Citroen of the University of Melbourne, organised a
seminar on the topic 'The Future of Forestry Education in Australia'.
Declining student numbers enrolled in tertiary forestry courses and a
deficit of qualified professional foresters in the workforce has been an
ongoing significant issue for forest management in Australia. This
seminar-workshop presented a new perspective to the issue - that of the
students'.

The seminar provided a brief overview of the current structure and
short-term future outlook of the ANU and Melbourne forestry degrees.
Current students from Melbourne and ANU presented their views and ideas on
forestry education in Australia. The main focus centred on the role that
undergraduates can play in shaping a better future for forestry education,
in partnership with educational institutions, government, industry and
other forest-related organisations.

Good luck with exams everyone!

Kate

Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com

G'day,

I would just like to wish you all a happy new year!!!

I have been away for a bit and I only just noticed the positive
feedback about the report that we received via Elspeth. Thanks again
for all your help with the report.

I am getting excited about the year ahead.Although it doesn't seem
like much, the  below will probably be taking up some of our time:

IFSS - South America
ANZIF - Coffs Harbour, NSW

I have no doubt, however, that these events will be both fun and
rewarding.

All the best for the new year,
Joe

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the Oceania_IFSA
group.

   File        : /u alone me alone.htm
   Uploaded by : betty_victoria29 <betty_victoria29@...>
   Description : weekend hot fun ready

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oceania_IFSA/files/u%20alone%20me%20alone.htm

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

betty_victoria29 <betty_victoria29@...>

1. topics for the General Assembly in South Africa

2. statute changes

*For a pdf version of this document please refer to the website or the files section of IFSA world yahoo groups*

3rd Progress Reports 2006/2007

President – Susan Edda Seehusen

The third IFSA quarter brought a very nice experience for us as a team. It was a pleasure that more than 15 officials (old and new) participated in the Interim meeting in January in Hinterzarten. Even the ones who could not be there sent e-mails regarding their achievements and difficulties. The meeting was very productive. Participants discussed actively and were very constructive. As a result the team spirit increased and we came out with many improvement ideas and lists of tasks for the next semester. Moreover, we had lots of fun and got closer to each other.

In my personal life I went through a hard phase in combining IFSA with my final master exams in February and March, but at the end, with the support of the team, everything has been managed well.

My actions in this semester can be summarized in advising, explaining, supporting, motivating. But also organizing, asking, reminding, pressing. Networking, reading, writing and calling.

Achievements

a) Interim: worked on the preparation and implementation of the meeting (Jan 07)

b) EC grant report 2006 – helped coordinating the process of finalizing the report, checked all documents

c) Professional Partners

CFA

Searched a liason officer CFA. Michelle Freemann is now the new LO for this partner and she is doing a great job. I explained her about the job, introduced her to the partner, to the IFSA 7 and officials and kept in contact with her.

IUFRO

- European Forum on Urban Forestry

Conducted the selection process for the European Forum on Urban Forestry and already announced the selected candidates

- Enlarged Board meeting – Beijing

Preparing the travel to the Enlarged Board meeting of IUFRO in Beijing (end of May 07), where together with the LO I am representing the IFSA.

- New possibilities

Brainstorming on possibilities of extending the cooperation

- Division 5 conference on Forest Products

Ensured saving a place for someone from the new board to take part in the meeting.

-  Quality assurance in higher forestry education (Finnland – August)

Discussed the role of the IFSA in the meeting with prof Lewark

- European Annual Meeting

Discussed  IFSA representation in the conference

- Opportunities

Announced many opportunities through IFSA world

- follow up about other processes.

d) Support + motivation

-          Secretariat (helped finding out addresses and sending invoices, sent IFSA news, and tried to provide overall support)

-          Finances / Treasurer (pressed for results, keep in contact, went through the financial reports)

-          IFSS07 (invitation e-mail and letter, updated website, contact to IFSSOC)

-          IFSA news (wrote president's corner for IFSA news)

-          Preparation of guidelines for the IPC commission in trying to support the commission in understanding their roles which was very quiet the last time

Web

-          learned to work with the webpage; updated IFSS and professional partners parts in the website

Personally

-          worked on fundraising for the travel to IFSS South Africa

-          Wrote final master exams in February and March

Main difficulties

-          too many responsibilities

Suggestions of improvement

-          share more and work more together with the others of the team.

Next steps

Representation + prepare presentations, papers and posters

-          IUFRO Enlarged Board meeting in Beijing - End of May

-          IFSA European Meeting on Forestry Education, Nancy – Middle May

-          IFSS 07 South Africa, Jun – Jul

-          IUFRO conferences on Education (August), European Meeting (September)

Unfortunately I won't be able to participate of the NERM and SERM because of time and financial reasons.

Vice-president – Elspeth Coker

Achievements

-          Continue to welcome new members to IFSAworld

-          Supported Susan during her exam period

-          Updated online appearance of the IFSA world mailing list, more attractive for new members

-          working closely with Cornelius providing advice for IFSS program in relation to IFSA's official activities and timeslots

-          IFSA news, contribution to making it available, wrote articles

-          Working with Pille who's doing a great job in fundraising, helping to communicate with people interested in taking over MCPFE

-          Contributing to web commission discussions on Morgan's resignation as liaison with Locomo, discussion regarding first page of IFSA website

-          Skype meetings with susan

-          Extensive discussions regarding financial matters, the importance of the EC grant

-          In touch with all organisers of regional meetings, providing support

-          Compiled Direction Newsletter

-          Third progress report

Future improvements and aims

-          continue to liaise closely with organising committee of IFSS

-          correspond with IFSA7 during the IFSA7 meeting in Europe, more skype meetings with IFSA7

-          prepare for the IFSS – this will be a lot of work!

-          work on a contact structure for IFSA with Susan to be put on the IFSA website

-          prepare welcome package with Susan

Treasurer – Paul Arnold

Well, what a year it has been so far. Time has gone so fast I do not know where to begin. The positive side of this is that there has been so much to do and so much done it means many achievements have been made and many lessons have been learnt.

The interim was a time of reflection and understanding of where we came from and where we are going to. As well as lots of hard work and determined discussions there was also a great deal of fun and enjoyment involved. This is definitely a credit to the organisers and to the detailed and variety agenda developed by Susan and Elspeth.

Great progress has been made personally of my grasp of financial knowledge and general understanding of the direction that spending can be made in the future. This is mainly due to the fact many contract remaining for the previous direction have come to an end and many bills have been paid. This means that I finally feel I know absolutely everything that is occurring, finally!

The major achievement of this year so far is the preparation of the EU report explaining how we spent last years grant. A great big thank you goes out to Wilrieke and Pieter for all their help and experience with dealing with this task (there is no rest for the wicked!).

I am looking forward to the response from the EU and I really hope that we get the grant for the coming year. I think as spring arrives in the northern hemisphere it gives us as an organisation the chance for new growth and the energy to accomplish our goals the methods for doing this largely set out from the brilliant interim experience.

I wish everybody in our IFSA family all the best in their endevours both private and with all things IFSA!

Happy sunny thoughts.

Executive Secretary – Joseph Schulte

Report unavailable.

Council

Achievements

Over the past three months, four new members have been approved into the IFSA community, these being from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Venezuela. There has also been applications from South America and Southern Europe which are currently being processed.

The website is up to date with all members and is a real credit to the web commission.

Much of the time spent on IFSA activities has been in replying to questions regarding membership or in discussions with the IFSA 7 in regards to the running of IFSA.

Geoff has been working with Wilrieke Uiterweerd (IUFRO Liaison Officer) to strengthen the relationship between IUFRO and IFSA. Results from this work should be realised in the up-coming months.

Chavdar has been working in cooperation with Adrian, who was secretary of IFSA in 2004/05 for making a strategy, how to involve more Russian Local Communities in IFSA Family. After the result that all Balkans countries are now members give hope that North East part of Europe will be soon in IFSA rows also. He also making announcements for IFSS, 2008 in Bulgaria and start finding sponsors for the event.

Difficulties

The last three months has raised a number of difficulties for the running of council. The main problem has been communication between council members, which has been lacking for various reasons. However, through a concerted effort by council, these problems are being overcome and the efficiency is significantly improving.

There are also problems with applying members. Often there initially evidence of high enthusiasm and good communication with applying LC's, but due to the time taken to process the applications this enthusiasm drops away and contact can be lost. This is largely the result of incomplete applications being repeatedly submitted, which greatly lengthens the time taken to process the applications.

Problems come also with updating information about each LC. Lack of time or other reasons become to quite rare answers on each sent e-mail, which is really embarrassing if we want to have the newest contacts for better communication.

Future

Geoff and Chavdar will both be attending the NERM, in Estonia, where it is hoped to introduce new people to the wonderful world that is IFSA. It is hoped that this meeting will also encourage further activities by local committees. Chavdar will also be attending the SERM in Romania.

As council we will be working over the next tree months to further improve the current application system, to ensure that high efficiency is maintained in the processing of applications, and to clarify what is needs to be submitted with applications.

We will be preparing also with the rest of IFSA Seven some system for making the payment of membership fee more efficient and suitable for those which are accurate with and pay on time. In addition, we will be preparing detailed documents for the next IFSA council, to improve on the change over process.

In April, Geoff will be attending the IFSA 7 meeting to discuss the changes in the statutes. It is hoped to make IFSA more accessible to the people from developing regions.

Geoffrey Roberts, Chavdar Zhelev

Liason Officer and Immediate Past President

Immediate Past President – Wilrieke Uiterweerd

Achievements

- Made the EC Grant 2006 report. Did not get any feedback from Brussels as far as I know.

Difficulties

- None really

Future improvements and aims

- Help Susan with the Seven meeting and preparing IFSS where I can.

IUFRO Liaison Officer – Wilrieke Uiterweerd

Achievements

- Ten places sponsored with $500,00 for the IUFRO Division 5 meeting in Taipei, Taiwan

Answered tons of emails...

- Susan will be sponsored to go to IUFRO conference in Poland and tell about IFSA there. Second IFSA person can go there too, sponsored.

- Improved EP placement in the IUFRO headquarters

- Draft improved MoU between IUFRO and IFSA

- Advertised some IUFRO events

- Discussion with the Congress Scientific Committee 

Difficulties

- Time! Wish I had more time to invest in finding more meetings for people to participate in...  

Future improvements and aims

- Will meet Susan for the IUFRO EB meeting in Beijing. Introduce her there to the professionals.

- Introduce new MoU during the EB meeting in Beijing; get it approved by the IUFRO members and afterwards signed by Susan (IFSA President) and Don Koo Lee (IUFRO President)

- Select 10 names for Taiwan and appoint a 'leader of the pack' for further communication about details with the organisers in Taiwan

- With Direction: create some sort of guidelines for the process of advertising an event, finding and selecting candidates, how and with who to communicate and so on.

- With Direction: think of subthemes for IUFRO world congress, in order to be able to actively take part in the emaildiscussions (now I am always late with the IFSA point of view when I wait for feedback from the Direction.

CFA Liaison Officer – Michelle Freeman

In February of this year I took over from Amy Davidson as the LO for the CFA and it has already been a rewarding experience. I have made contact with Jim Ball (chair), Mardi Macgregor (Vice-chair), Alan Pottinger (technical director) and Courtney Johnson (Youth Officer) from the CFA and they have all expressed great enthusiasm for supporting the relationship between CFA and IFSA.

So far, I have been endorsing the CFA to IFSAworld, indicating the benefits of becoming acquainted and involved with the CFA. I have had contact with members from France and Northern Africa who have requested the involvement of the CFA in their activities. Unfortunately, participation of the CFA in France's seminar was not possible due to time restraints of the CFA, however financial support for Northern Africa's proposed workshops and seminars for young forestry students is still pending.

I am currently in the process of writing a report about IFSA for the CFA newsletter and will hopefully then write a report about CFA for IFSA News. I have also been scoping the potential for special membership of IFSA to the CFA, which would allow access to all CFA newsletters and journal articles for IFSA members.

At the end of April I will be meeting with Mardi, Courtney and Elspeth to discuss both IFSA and CFA and how we can further the relationship. We will also discuss options for a pre-symposium workshop for 2008 hosted by the CFA.

To date, I haven't had many difficult challenges in this role. At times contact between myself and the CFA has become quite sporadic due to other commitments on both our parts, however I am making a conscious effort to 'touch base' as regularly as possible.

In my role, I will continue to inform IFSA members of the opportunities offered by the CFA, including awards and events, and will provide IFSA's support to the CFA where possible.

Thanks for reading!

Regional Representatives

Northern America – Mathieu Lévesque

Dear IFSA people,

It is a pleasure for me to report our progress for the last three months as North American Regional representative. Since the second progress report in January a lot of things happened here.

Achievements

- Some delegates of our LC and I played a TV quiz at the beginning of January. We won 1 000 $ which will be useful for participating to the next activities.

- Michel Désy and I participated in Confor 2007. We tried to promote IFSA to all participants there. It was a nice opportunity to explain what IFSA do.

- I got in touch with a student interested to start a LC at the State University of New York. I helped and explained to him how to become a member.

Difficulties

Nothing special, except maybe, the little problem of communication between the Council and me about Corvallis's membership fee unpaid. Actually, all is fine and there happy to be a member of IFSA family.

Future improvements and aims

- I will try to be more in touch the next months with all LCs.

- I am planning to go at the IFSS in South Africa

This was a little overview of what I have done the last three months.

Latin America – Laura Quevedo

Report unavailable.

Northern Europe – Christian Jürgensen

Achievements

I haven't achieved much this period. However I have helped to start a new LC in Denmark and helped with providing upgraded information to the webpage.

I have sent some commercial mails to Russia but so far without results.

I have asked the secretary for brochures to be send to both Lithuania and Belgium.

Difficulties

Finding the time and new ideas.

Future improvements and aims

Help Paul to get the membership fees.

Do some networking at the NERM

Find a good replacement and make a good changeover.

Southern Europe – Simone Torrini

Report unavailable.

Northern Africa – Patience Mayaki-Benson

Achievements

North African Sub-Regional Representatives

-          The tentative approval and subsequent formation of the sub –regional positions as a pilot project for the North African region mailing list has proved to be a major achievement for the active participation of the region in IFSA. With the approval from IFSA7, the following individuals have started serving in the capacity of sub-regional representatives pending formal approval at the forthcoming GA:

o        Anwar SidAhmed from Sudan represents North African countries of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Djibouti, Mauritania, Ethiopia.

o        Yufenyuy Ngwayi (Cameroon) & Aborele Gabriel (Nigeria) represents West and Central African countries of Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Sierra Leone, Mali.

o        Babalola Folaranmi (Nigeria) & Yousouffa Bele (Cameroon) represents West and Central African countries of Cote d' Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkinafaso, Togo, Liberia.

o       Justice Odoi (Ghana) & Adewopo Julius (Nigeria) represents West and Central African countries of Ghana, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Gambia, Nigeria.

-          Communications amongst all the sub-regional representatives started in earnest once IFSA7 gave approval for their positions on a test run basis. An e-conference has already taken place and work is already in progress to foster awareness of IFSA in the region. Since the inception of the sub-regional reps, we have had more communications from several universities and forestry institutions all wishing to be a part of IFSA. Worthy of mention is the fact that through the efforts and proximity of the sub-regional reps in different North African countries, constant information flow was possible between the NERM Coordinator and the North African region in respect of the just concluded NERM 2007. This wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

IFSS 2007

-          With the support of IFSA7 and other officials within the IFSA framework, we have been able to provide advisory services to African students who wish to participate in the IFSS in S.Africa. This is largely possible because of the awareness campaigns that we have raised in schools and among African peers involved in forestry and related disciplines.

Difficulties

Communication still remains a major challenge for the region with limited access to internet facilities. Though this is beyond our control, we believe that the North African region's contribution to IFSA can even be more evident once this ceases to be a problem.

Formation of local committees poses to be a major problem. The lengthy process of the LC application might be a possible deterrent for prospective IFSA members. Some of the forms I have received lacked some form of clarity and are often incomplete. Nonetheless, because the application is quite important and inevitable if any institution aspires to be in the IFSA family, all necessary assistance are being provided to ensure that this exercise is carried out properly and with as little inconvenience as possible.

Future improvements and aims

As regional representative, I expect that the coming months will see a giant leap in African students participation in IFSA especially after the IFSS in S.Africa. The North African region is prepared to meet the increased flow of communication that will follow this meeting. With the availability of the sub-regional reps in Africa, grass-root support for enquiries and other relevant issues pertaining to IFSA can be easily dealt with.

Mailing list communication is also expected to improve radically with updated information passed on to members on regular basis about forestry positions, study opportunities and other important forestry related news that will be of relevance to their academic and future career growth.

Thank you.

Southern Africa – Jürgen Reinstorf

Achievements

In the last couple of weeks I have been in close contact with Isaac Fwemba from the University of Zambia. I have sent them all the neccesary documentation to register with IFSA. It is now just a matter of time before they will submit a formal application.

Also I have been in contact with Cornelius from Saasveld. They seem to be managing well with their preparations for this years symposium.

Difficulties

In regard with the University of Zambias application, I am not exactly sure if there are any registration costs for new applicants. If someone could explain to me exacly what is needed.

Future improvements and aims

I will be in contact with the people at Saasveld in the run-up to this years IFSS, helping were help is needed.

Asia – Ratnasari Jayanti

Since the last report, I'm still working towards the goals I set during the IFSS.    Contact within the only currents LC's in Asia has improved again. In February, two students of LC IPB (Bogor Agriculture Institute) and three students of LC GMU (Gadjah Mada University) attended the UNFF pre meeting in Bali, which was really good. They participate the meeting and do such a volunteering job.

The good news is, I received some email from some country in Asia showing their interest to joint as a member of IFSA.

1.       From Winaya Mukti University, Indonesia. They were   member of IFSA some previous years. Now, they had regeneration and reformation of their students body. The new generations has a great interest to joint IFSA and running a new LC. I sent them the guideline and application form   to apply as a new member. It was still on process now to get approval from the councillor.

2.       From Institute Of Forestry Pokhara, Nepal. A students name Shankar Adhikari want to become a Individual member (Associate member) of IFSA. He is already an associate member of IUFRO. In the other mail after I sent him the guideline to become a member, he mentioned that As a forestry student of developing country like Nepal ,it is difficult to pay that amount to become a member of IFSA. So, I suggest him to try and find an enthusiastic group of studens, who would like to form an IFSA LC. I'm still helping him for the process. 

3.       From G.B.Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, India.  They had a great interest to run a new LC in his University. They still try to find some students group and form a statue.

4.       From a Malaysian student. He has already finished his study, but he still interest to joint IFSA. I told him that he could become associated member and gave some information about IFSA. He had a good response, but haven't start to process the application yet.

I kept on a good contact with them and followed up all the progress. I hope, at least   one of them can be a new member soon. I also still promoting IFSA to the other University in Asia, gave them some information about the next IFSS. The two currents LC's has started to prepare their participation to the IFSS 2007.  

Oceania – Joseph Henry

Achievements

-          Organised delegates to attend IFSS 2007; and

-           Organised the Oceania bank account (Thank you Elspeth)!

-           IFSA easter egg hunt at Melbourne Uni LC

-           Melbourne Uni LC working hard to raise awareness amongst first years about IFSA

Difficulties

-           Establishing contacts with people interested, or able, to become
involved in IFSA activities such as the IFSS (e.g. contact in New
Zealand); and

-           Maintaining an LC when unaware of who to contact from that LC (e.g.
UQ) or if anyone is interested. However, with more time available I am
sure that this would be less of a problem.

Future improvements and aims

-           Raise the funds required to cover costs of the IFSS;

-           Have a smooth change over to people from IFSA Oceania who will be
taking control post IFSS; and

-           Either ceasing, or altering, tax and bank issues of IFSA Oceania.

Commissions

Exchange Programme

Report unavailable.

Fundraising

Achievements

-           Established communication with Public and Promotions

o         interchanged information, materials, ideas

-           Established communication with one FC commissioner

-           Advertising templates send out to Canadian Universities, Erasmus Universities.

-           Letters to regional representatives in purpose to find organizations out from Europe whose grants would be available for IFSA

-           Negotiations with Warsaw Agricultural University in progress

-           Letters about finding sponsors to potential IFSS 2007 participants

Difficulties

-           still no money for the 1st of January as planned

Future improvements and aims

-           Advertisement templates to different universities, organizations over the world (including USA, Japan where we do not have people) in purpose to find support.

-           Proposal for next year which recommends fundraising commission to unite with P&P

Pille Aasamets

Head of Fundraising Commission

Language

Achievements

We achieve to answer normal request to translate papers as usual. We had no much request for this period.

Difficulties

I think Yuber Gamacho asked us to translate one paper and nobody had the time and now I don't know if it's been done or not. Lack of communication.

Future improvements and aims

I am pretty sure there will be no future improvement and aims in the language commission till the next symposium.

Michel Désy

Head of Language Commission

Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP)

No activity.

Publications and Promotions

Achievements

- Publication IFSA-NEWS No.44

Difficulties

-          Funding

Future improvements and aims

-          IFSA stand preparation on LIGNA in Hannover (world fair for Forestry and wood industries) for the year 2008

-          Searching P&P "persons on contact" in Forestry Universities around the globe

-          Two regional events in Kindergartens (education)

-          linking Funding commission and P&P commission for a better teamwork in Funding

-          creating a "IFSA poster" to present IFSA and IFSA NEWS in Universities around the world

-          work on IFSA NEWS No.45

Nicolas Wittmann and Alexander von Versen

Head of Publications and Promotions Commission.

International Processes (IPC)

MCPFE Sub Commission

Achievements

Difficulties

Future improvements and aims

UNFF Sub Commission

Achievements

Difficulties

Although the amount of student coming to the UNFF was quite good, there was not much cooperation within the commission to prepare the UNFF session, mainly the focal points (Hanna Gleissner and Pieter van Midwoud) have taken care of the preparations.

Future improvements and aims

The two earlier mentioned focal points want this UNFF session to be the latest since they are graduating or already are. So, two new people are needed to take over this relatively responsible job of being the contact point to the UNFF on behalf of IFSA. Currently we found Alexander von Velsen (IFSA news) prepared and capable to continue our work and we hope to find a second person during the session of the UNFF.

During the UNFF the secretariat of the MCPFE (European process to implement sustainable forest management) approached us to ask when IFSA would come by at one of their meetings, since we have an observer status there currently. Hanna and Pieter are now considering to go to the meeting in June that this process has and take a group of students with us, to overcome the burden of 'just' going to such a process and make a group of mainly European students enthusiastic to start to actively follow and contribute to this process.  

Village Concept Project

Achievements

-          Continued to maintain communication between VCP members maintaining integrity of the group.

-          Established contact with interested students in the Netherlands who expressed interest in becoming members of the VCP. Have directed them to all current VCP projects operating (throughout central Africa and Asia). Have recruited these people as members of the VCP.

-          Established contact with Rwandan VCP commission. The RVCP provided information outlining how forestry skills and knowledge would provide a great asset to VCP projects in Rwanda. This information has been delivered out to VCP members and other interested people.

Difficulties

-          Designating enough time to thoroughly search for all existing VCP projects and linking them to interested VCP members.

-          Planned trip to Borneo to pursue VCP projects fell through due to funding crisis. Again, an opportunity to discover and assist with more remote VCP projects failed.

Future Improvements and Aims

-          Identify potential VCP projects operating in Madagascar. Contact appropriate people and ask for involvement upon an expected visit there in May this year.

-          To allocate more time to searching for current VCP projects and to establish contact with them and ask about the role of forestry research and development projects.

-          To maintain communication between VCP commission members and any new members.

            Geoff Kay

            Head of Village Concept Project Commission

Web

Achievements:

The web commission has been successfully managing the IFSA website. The calendar has been kept up to date with IFSA and non-IFSA events, the IFSA news was made available on the web, and the exchange program has been updated with new placements and documents. The calendar has also been re-arranged so that events appear from the nearest to the most distant. This has made it clearer to those looking at the calendar what events are approaching soon and their deadlines.

We are now able to get access to statistics on the site ( www.ifsa.net/stats), giving an indication of visitors, downloads and much more. This is password protected.  

Difficulties:

It was identified at the interim that some of the regional representatives are having trouble with editing their regional pages.

There has been discussion about the opening picture of the site, as many are not satisfied with it. Three different alternatives were presented to locomo for the opening picture to determine the rough cost of each option. To change the picture would be around 80 euro; to enable admins to change the picture at any time could be up to 500 euro; and get rid of the into picture altogether would be 120 – 160 euro. No final decision has been decided, but it has been suggested that we take the first option, and to run a photo competition for the image to be used.

Future improvements and aims:

The communication with regional representatives does need to improve, especially if they are having trouble with their regional page.

It was pointed out by our president, Susan, that the latest edition of IFSA news should also appear on the home page as well as in the IFSA news section. This is something that I would like to look at doing in the near future.

The secretariat has indicated that they are getting many emails from newcomers to IFSA. It needs to be discussed what changes we can make to the contact page so that inquiries can be directed to the most appropriate party.

On a final note, Morgan has expressed that she feels she is no longer in a position to act as liaison with locomo. It is important that we find a suitable replacement for the position, as it is an important job to the running of the IFSA website. A deadline has not been set for a change over, but this does need to happen in the near future. I hope to discuss this at the IFSS in South Africa if nothing can be done sooner.

            Kate Lancaster

            Head of Web Commission

Hey Emma!

Long time no see! unfortunately i will not be joining you in Coffs as i am
rather bogged down with exams and the like :(
i hope you have an awsome time and let us know how things go!

kind regards,

Kate Lancaster



> Hello people
> how are we? just wondering if anyone is coming to the ANZIF conference in
> Coffs Harbour next week?
> Hopefully I'll see some of you there!
> Emma
>
>
> ____________________
> Emma Leslie
>
> erleslie82@...
>
>
> C/o  50 Mellool St
> Barham, NSW
> Australia, 2732
>
>
>
>
________________________________________________________________________________\
_
>
> How would you spend $50,000 to create a more sustainable environment in
> Australia? Go to Yahoo!7 Answers and share your idea.
> http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/aunz/lifestyle/answers/y7ans-babp_reg.html
>
>
>

To my fellow South Africa travelers!

just wondering what peoples plans were for after the symposium????? Els
and i are flying home from joburg on thurs 12th of july which means we
will spend one night in the city. just wondering if anyone else is going
to be staying in joburg????

talk to you soon!

kate

Hey Emma!

Long time no see! unfortunately i will not be joining you in Coffs as i am
rather bogged down with exams and the like :(
i hope you have an awsome time and let us know how things go!

kind regards,

Kate Lancaster

> Hello people
> how are we? just wondering if anyone is coming to the ANZIF conference in
> Coffs Harbour next week?
> Hopefully I'll see some of you there!
> Emma
>
>
> ____________________
> Emma Leslie
>
> erleslie82@yahoo.co.uk
>
>
> C/o 50 Mellool St
> Barham, NSW
> Australia, 2732
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________
>
> How would you spend $50,000 to create a more sustainable environment in
> Australia? Go to Yahoo!7 Answers and share your idea.
> http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/aunz/lifestyle/answers/y7ans-babp_reg.html
>
>
>

To my fellow South Africa travelers!

just wondering what peoples plans were for after the symposium????? Els
and i are flying home from joburg on thurs 12th of july which means we
will spend one night in the city. just wondering if anyone else is going
to be staying in joburg????

talk to you soon!

kate

Hi all,

Not long now! Very exciting.
What is the plan for the international evening???
food???
drink???
items to auction???

kate

I have had a meeting. They are happy to take our money as we discussed
in George. Just got to transfer it through and shut down the accounts.

Cheers,
Betty

--- In Oceania_IFSA@yahoogroups.com, "Kate Lancaster" <kmla.euc@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Did we want to have another chat about the oceania fund?
>
> kate
>

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Roger

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Roger

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Roger

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