Forest Pedagogy
Name / Title | Forest Pedagogy |
Case Study Region | Jihomoravský kraj (South Moravia Region) |
Geographical coverage | Brno city and town districts |
Type | Municipal forest management; training scheme |
Main activity / focus
| Visitors to forests should be informed about the sense of sustainable forestry as well as about all benefits provided and roles played by the forests. They should know more about the functioning of forest ecosystems. All this is the task and objective of forest pedagogy, which started to be practiced in the Czech Republic only several years ago. |
Target beneficiaries / market | Urban population, schools, schoolchildren |
Year established | First started in 2007, then every year. |
Current Funding source(s) | Environmental education programme |
| Lesy města Brna, a.s. |
Website | |
Description
| What is Forest pedagogy? Forest education is the simplest and most natural method used by foresters to bring the general public nearer to the forest environment and to inform the community about the tasks and objectives of forestry. Motto of forest educators: “LEARNING ABOUT THE FOREST IN THE FOREST” Forest pedagogy objectives:
The forest pedagogy includes issues like environmental education on forest, relation and processes taking place in the forests, and it is based on the experience passed by forest pedagogues (a forester with pedagogic knowledge and skills) preferably directly in the forest environment. It’sthe easiest way of bringing the forest environment with its all functions closer to the broad public. Forest pedagogy does not present a competition to schools and scientific educational institutions, but it increases and provides additional knowledge in an entertaining way engaging all senses. In the Czech Republic, the beginnings of the Forest pedagogy date back to the end of 1990s, when several employees of the Integrated Secondary Forest School in Vimperk finished the training in Austria and started to organize specialized activities for children and since 2002 also courses for new forest pedagogues. The course structure was copied from the Austrian model and only adjusted to the Czech conditions. In June 2007, there were approx. 130 forest pedagogues trained. In the Czech Republic, forest pedagogy has not been well structured and coordinated; therefore, in 2007 the Ministry of Agriculture established a team of experts of different stake holders in order to prepare a common procedure for implementation of forest pedagogy in the Czech Republic. The year 2011 has been announced as the International Year of Forests. One of events organized in the Czech Republic is the Week of Forests in 2011 (9 – 15 May 2011). The Week of Forests will be a good opportunity for broad public to visit forests with foresters and to grasp better the reasons and methods of forest management. In that week, social events and demonstrations of forest work will take place at many localities in the country. It will be a single opportunity to look into the forest “kitchen” and to learn more about woods that represent an original phenomenon of the Czech landscape. |
Contact details
| Lesy města Brna, a.s. |