2nd year at Padua

A specialization in Social and Environmental Responsibility

Through the specialisation at the University of Padua, students gain knowledge and tools for a career in an innovative field of work: ethics applied to forestry.

The specialisation focuses on concepts and theories for production, trade and consumption of forest goods and services based on principles of social and environmental responsibility and provides knowledge of the appropriate marketing tools and professional skills to operationalise them for public and private forestry organisations. Students acquire capacities to interpret complex socio-ecological systems and to identify innovative solutions for responsible forest management in line with the major global environmental issues.

Teaching is based on problem-solving approaches where lectures, seminars and independent learning are supported by field practicals, laboratory work and forest visits. Learning occurs in an international and multicultural environment, as the University of Padua is embedded in an international degree programme with overseas students and with other double-degree initiatives and has close links with other European Forest Schools as well as with international forest and environmental organizations like FAO, UNECE, EFI, and CIFOR.

Main aims

• Graduate individuals who have a thorough understanding of the main theoretical concepts and tools backing up Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), i.e.
  • the methodologies to identify the drivers and actors of unsustainable forest management and their impact worldwide
  • the economic tools to assess the economic value of ecosystem services and the economic losses connected to depletion of natural resources
  • the innovative market-based solutions to promote sustainable provision of forest ecosystem services
  • the ethical and marketing tools to contrast illegality in forestry
  • the policy, governance, and conflict management tools to address the transition towards responsible forest management and to identify who are the public and private actors able to implement such change
• Develop students’ intellectual, practical, critical capacity and skills for information and communication, interpersonal- and team-work, self-management and professional development in relation to ethics in global forestry applied to both public and private organizations involved in forestry
• Equip students for opportunities for a career in the innovative field of responsible production, trade and use of forest products and societal marketing instruments, like certification, labelling, and independent forest monitoring.

Semester 3

Semester 4: thesis