The nature of employment and occupational demands in the forest sector keep changing due to significant, overall changes in the sector including globalization, digitalization, changing societal demands and climate change. Newly evolving “green jobs” promote sustainable development as well as the general well-being of the people. Students will need adequate training to be equipped with the skills required for the new jobs, and to contribute to building a green, healthy, and resilient future with forests. The event aims to explore the educational needs towards forest-related employment and green jobs. After years of limited available research and literature, two major joint projects, one led by EFI-IFSA-IUFRO and another led by FAO-ITTO-IUFRO, have catalysed work in forest education and employment. Results of recent research coordinated by these consortia will guide the discussions on future forest-related careers and how to prepare for them. The event was a 90-minute hybrid event with an interactive format including a panel of onsite and online participants and audience participation. Participants included youth, partner organizations, employment and policy sector as well as tertiary educators.

This was a side event of the XV World Forestry Congress, which  took place on 6 May, 2022. The event included an overview on the state of play of green forest jobs within the pan European region, presented by the Thünen Institute (Germany), followed by a series of dialogues by four representatives of different stakeholder groups (employment, tertiary education, student and policy). Each dialogue is framed by a video, presenting results of the EFI-IFSA-IUFRO project “Global student networking and green jobs in the forest-sector”. After the panel discussion, FOREST EUROPE’s “Grow Green Jobs Campaign” was introduced. New best practice examples of green jobs were tagged after the conference.

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