Olavi Luukkanen - Viikki Tropical Resources Institute VITRI

University of Helsinki Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) 1

Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI)30+ years of research, higher education and cooperation

Olavi Luukkanen & Markku KanninenViikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), University of Helsinki

EIARD - 21th European Coordination Group Meeting, 26-28 October 2015, Helsinki, Finland

University of Helsinki Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) University of Helsinki Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) 2

• Founded in 1640 (in Turku)– moved to Helsinki in 1828

• Main functions are research, higher education and societal interaction

• Two official languages (Finnish and Swedish), teaching provided also in English

• 40,000 degree students, staff about 4,000• World ranking 76 (Times Higher Education

World University Ranking - 2015)

University of Helsinki


Four campuses

City

Meilahti

Viikki

Kumpula


Viikki life sciences Campus- second largest in Europe

• 6000 students• 1500 staff• 4 faculties• Research

institutes• State institutions• Business and

science park• > 20 companies


• Established in 1980 (as Tropical Silviculture Unit)• Staff: 3 permanent, >10 with external-financing• B.Sc., M.Sc., and D.Sc. (Agr. & For.) degrees in Tropical

Silviculture and Forest Management, jointly with Dept. of Forest Sciences

• 50% of students from outside Finland• VITRI courses include– Tropical ecology, agroforestry, forest management, plantation

forestry, social and community forestry, social studies, natural resources management

– Ecosystem services, watershed management– Climate change adaptation and mitigation

Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI)


• Holistic approach to natural resources management in the Tropics– Forestry & agriculture & agroforestry = landscape management <–>

development challenges

• Solid basis in methods, and skills– Professional skills to work in the Global South

• Topics that are actual and important – Livelihoods and forest & natural resources management at

landscape level– Climate change – mitigation and adaptation– Agroforestry, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity– Globalization – industrial forestry – small-scale forestry– Land-use change, bioenery, deforestation, governance

VITRI’s focus in teaching & research


Studies• International M.Sc. Programme (2 years;

Dept. of Forest Sciences)• Individual doctoral programmes• Minor in tropical silvilculture (25 ECT)• Student mobility programmes

– Erasmus, Atlantis, CIMO (Finnish Center for International Mobility)

• International Summer School– Managing Sustainable Landscapes

• Educational networks– GIFN (Global Industriual Forestry Network);

NOVA (Inter-Nordic training)• M.Sc. thesis work & practice in the TropicsPlantation field course

in Ethiopia 2012


• Kallio, M. 2013. Small-holder tree plantations, Indonesia• Negash, M. 2013. Agroforestry and carbon sequestration, Ethiopia• Rantala, S. 2013. Forest conservation governance, Tanzania• Alam, S. 2013. Carbon and water in savannah woodlands, Sudan• Omoro, L. 2012. Ecosystem services in Taita Hills, Kenya • Jalonen. R. 2012. Nitrogen dynamics in agroforestry systems, French

Antilles• Paavola, M. 2012. Micro-credits for sustainable forest management, Laos • Kalame, F.B. 2011. Forest governance and climate change adaptation: Case

studies of four African countries

Most doctoral theses available from VITRI website!

Examples of VITRI doctoral theses (> 40 completed 1989-2015)


• Forests and climate change - mitigation [REDD+] and ecosystem-based adaptation

• Community-based management of forests and trees• Smallholder forestry• Rehabilitation of degraded natural and man-made production

systems, particularly in African drylands• Tropical agroforestry and plantation forestry• Development cooperation and capacity building projects,

including higher education (curriculum development etc.)• Sustainable post-civil war natural resource management

(South Sudan, Somalia)

VITRI – Research & development cooperation

University of Helsinki Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI)

VITRI Projects

10

ResearchInstitutional & academic developmentClimate change and development

Doctoral studiesMSc studies

On-going projects: Recent/on-going theses:


Development projects – example

• Building Biocarbon and Rural Development in West Africa (BIODEV): ICRAF, 2012-2016, € 10 mill.)– Burkina Faso & Sierra Leone,

Guinea & Mali – Funding: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of

Finland– Consortium led by ICRAF with CIFOR, two

Finnish Universities and several national partners (NGO’s, universities)

– VITRI: WP leader on Policy and Capacity Building


Research projects – examples

• Carbon management at the landscape scale – part of “Learning from REDD+: An Enhanced Global Comparative Analysis” (CIFOR), 2013-2015– Indonesia, Peru, Tanzania, Mexico …+– VITRI: Landscape-level C analysis & modelling

• Private Agricultural Investments and Land Use Change Impact on The Adaptive Capacity of Local Communities to Climate Change in Mozambique (PAIMO) (Academy of Finland), 2013-2014– Mozambique– VITRI: Project lead, carbon analysis & modelling, ecosystem-based

adaptation at community level


Institutional development projects – examples

• Forest Landscape Rehabilitation in the Mekong Basin (FORMEB) (CIMO/MFA Finland), 2013-2015– MFA Higher Education Institutional Cooperation Instrument– Lao PDR– Partner: Faculty of Forestry/National University of Laos– Landscape Planning and Management Training for the

Environment in South Sudan – (LAMPTESS) (CIMO/MFA Finland), 2013-2015

– MFA Higher Education Institutional Cooperation Instrument– South Sudan– Universities of Upper Nile & Juba; Ministry of Agriculture, Juba


VITRI’s engagement in international science and policy

• CGIAR– Prof. Emer. Olavi Luukkanen: ICRAF Board member 2009-2015; CIFOR Board

observer member– Prof. Markku Kanninen: CIFOR – research director 2003-2010

• CATIE– Prof. Markku Kanninen: research director & DDG 1996-2003

• IPCC & UNFCCC– Prof. Markku Kanninen: active in IPCC since 1992,

member of the Adaptation Fund Board since 2008

• UNCCD– VITRI & UNCCD joint special issue in international journal on dryland

management , due in 2016


Africa• Wondo Genet College of Forestry (Ethopia)• Forests National Corporation, Forestry Research Centre of the Agricultural

Research Corporation , University of Khartoum (Sudan)• University of Juba & Upper Nile University (South Sudan)• Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique)Asia• Kasetsart University (Thailand) • National University of Laos (Laos)• Nanjing Forestry University (China)• Bogor Agricultural University, IPB (Indonesia)• Center for Forests and People (RECOFTC)

VITRI – Strategic partnerships


Americas• CONAFOR, ECOSUR & UNAM/Morelia (Mexico)• Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica (Costa Rica)• University of Sao Paulo (Brazil)• Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE)Finland & Europe• Several European universities• European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN)• NIRAS Finland & other consulting companies• Finnish Somalia Network (NGO)Global• Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)• International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)• World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

VITRI - Strategic partnerships


Thank you very muchfor your attention!

www.helsinki.fi/vitri/http://blogs.helsinki.fi/vitriblog/www.facebook.com/UH.VITRI

[email protected]@helsinki.fi