Indonesia hosted the 37th Forestry Students Symposium

Indonesia's forestry students welcomed 150 participants from 47 countries for the symposium to the 37 forestry students on July 26 to August 9, 2009. University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) and the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) jointly organized this annual event after the symposium in Bulgaria in 2008 and in South Africa in 2007. This activity is supported by the Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Education, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), GTZ and Sinarmas Forestry.

International forestry students Association (IFSA), is the only organization that aims to enrich the formal education of forestry, international cooperation and networking among members and other professional partners.

Forests in Indonesia is a national asset, both for the international community and where there are diverse interests of various parties for the purposes of forest resources. Various agencies have taken all necessary action in accordance with the UN Millennium development goals aimed at environmental sustainability, including reducing deforestation, and loss of biodiversity reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Struggle to preserve the forest as part of promoting environmental sustainability is a lot of effort and long-term responsibility conveyed from one generation to the next. The youth of today who will continue the relay baton requires education and capacity building in the near future. Youth will inherit the consequences of any actions taken by policy makers in the present. Youth can play an important role in implementing policies designed to ensure the integrity of forest ecosystems of the world and to spread the idea of the process and outcome of the forum between them.

With the main theme of Forest Conservation: The Role of Youth In Speeding Policy Process, this symposium will focus on youth perspectives on forest conservation. Youth has demonstrated great talent and promise in dealing with environmental awareness through environmental leadership, including in the field of forestry development. This symposium is an approach to achieving the MDG's for the development environment. To achieve this goal, the youth will need support from various agencies, so we invite all parties to take part in trying for a better world.