Integration of Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education and Research Processes Related to Forestry and Wood Science

Abstract

Global challenges, including climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, and a growing population have direct or indirect impact on natural resources and are forcing people to seek new ways of production and consumption that respect the ecological limits of our planet. To meet the challenges, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by 193 countries at the United Nations Summit in September 2015. The forest-wood chain has also been identified as closely linked to sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Especially in countries with high forest cover, such as Slovenia, forest-wood chain is recognized in policy documents as key element for achieving the SDGs. The importance of the SDGs is not only recognized in national legislation, but also in relation to higher education and research institutions. With the aim to investigate how well higher education teachers and students are familiar with SDGs and whether they consider them important for the forestry and wood industry and if high education teachers and researchers integrate the SDGs into educational programs and research, survey was conducted with the employees (n=61) and students (n=185) of the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources and Department of Wood Science and Technology. The results show that both employees and students of the Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources as well as employees and students of the Department of Wood Science are familiar with SDGs. All the respondents find SDGs important for the forestry and wood industry. All the participants especially emphasized SDG 15 – Life on land. The results also showed that, in the future, employees of both departments plan to integrate more SDGs into their educational and research process. Finally, it was concluded that educational and research institutions and integration of SDGs into their educational and research process could be an important step towards sustainability and achieving goals of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Students who will work in the forestry and wood industry sectors in the future could integrate and promote more sustainable practises in the sectors if they have sufficient knowledge of the SDGs and high perception of sustainability.