Prepared by Susan McIntyre, 3/31/09

Seven members of the NCSU student chapter of International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with four organizations about their international work. The members brought unique perspectives to the meetings, as they themselves hailed from all around the world:

Koffi Bassan (Togo)
Omar Carrero (Venezuela)
Sadharga Koesbandana (Indonesia)
Liwei Lin (Taiwan)
Susan McIntyre (United States)
Yun Wu (China)
Jin Xiong (China)

The first meeting of the morning was with the Department of State Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science. We were able to speak with Mark Johnsen, International Relations Officer, and Ellen Shaw, a Forest Policy Advisor in the Office of Ecology and Natural Resource Conservation. We discussed the issues that the Bureau has with promoting and enforcing US policy on various natural resource issues, particularly in the areas of illegal logging in tropical forests and illegal imports of tropical forest products. We also learned the differences between civil servants and field agents and were able to discuss employment prospects and the hiring process.

At the World Bank, we received an excellent lunch and heard presentations from several project leaders, including the Forest Carbon Initiative. Among our hosts was Greg Frey, former ISTF President and PhD student from NCSU Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. Other presenters included Gerhard Dieterle (Forests Advisor) and Megan Meyer (Carbon Finance Analyst).

We also spoke with employees at the US Forest Service Office of International Programs and the World Resource Institute. At USFS, we enjoyed a very frank and open discussion with Alex Moad, Assistant Director for Technical Cooperation, as well as specialist staff working in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. They gave us a brief overview of the organizational structure of the Forest Service, their numerous projects, and their plans for the future. They indicated that climate change would be a major driver in future policy, research and pilot projects. We learned that the Forest Service has long been highly engaged with international partners on a variety of issues and has a history of bringing back new ideas to try in the United States.

Our day wrapped up with a visit to the World Resource Institute. After an introduction to the WRI Ecosystem Services program, the primary subject for discussion was the POTICO project that has recently been developed. POTICO stands for Palm Oil, Timber, and Carbon Offsets, the three sources of income for a new conservation scheme to protect virgin tropical forests from conversion to palm oil plantations. Susan Minnemeyer discussed plans for increasing GIS and remote imaging capabilities to better study the forests and monitor carbon projects. ISTF members had the opportunity to ask about and discuss other research being conducted in their countries and regions of interest, including carbon sequestration in China and a new project focused on ecosystem service incentives in the southeastern US.

ISTF members meet with representatives from the Department of State

 
ISTF members stand in front of the Capitol and symbolic cherry blossoms: Omar Carrero (Venezuala), Susan McIntyre (United States), Sherry Xiong (China).

Learn more about International Programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources