Forestry: Career Choice for Millennial Students
Growing population’s rising needs are emerging concern resulting in degradation of the environment and the forest as a consequence of incessant deforestation in both developing and developed regions of the world. To address this issue various initiatives are taken by governments and concerned groups on many occasions, through the global consensus on sustainable management with green economic solutions. All over the globe, countries are taking measures to combat deforestation and its disastrous effects. Organisations working in this direction are receiving immense support from communities, governments and local authorities. Several socially responsible corporate now support such programmes through CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) budgets. This rapidly changing scenario hereby creates a wide array of career opportunities in forestry for millennial students.
To many curious students, the question will pop up now, what is forestry and what are the roles and responsibilities of a forester after completing a degree course in this subject. Forestry, in the present time has emerged as a specialized subject that prepares students for the futuristic environment needs essential to pursue sustainable developmental goals (SDG). The subject offers complete empirical and practical knowledge on forest management, including conservation and maintenance of forests, way-outs for deforestation, and methods to solve global warming issues such as water crisis, natural disasters, and the greenhouse effect. Apart from this, a student of Forestry also learns various national and international laws related to forest and environmental protection.
The key subjects/topics that a student of Forestry usually learns are Advanced Silviculture, Dendrology, Forest Biometrics, Advanced Forest Management, Remote Sensing & GIS, Forest Resource Management and Economics, Wood based industries, Chemistry of Forest Products, Forest Policy & Utilization, Advanced Forest Ecology, Forest Biodiversity Conservation, Forest Protection, Wood Science and Technology, Medicinal Plants and Aromatic Plants, Plantation Technology and Watershed Management.
There are enormous career opportunities for the students of Forestry in the contemporary industries. With educational requirements ranging from college bachelor’s degrees to PhDs for highly specialized work, foresters are the most sought-after human resources for the timber industry, government agencies, conservation groups, local authorities, urban parks boards, citizens’ associations, and private landowners.
Their roles and responsibilities vary as per their position and the industry they are representing. For instance, industrial foresters plan forest regeneration applying pre- and post-harvest contemporary technologies. Urban foresters manage trees in urban green spaces. Foresters work in tree nurseries growing seedlings for woodland creation or regeneration projects, and forest engineers develop new building systems. In addition, professional foresters measure and model the growth of forests with tools like geographic information systems.
Some of the general job tasks of foresters are to inventorize, characterize, monitor and conserve forest species, to help develop forests, besides developing and promoting tourism to coordinate and communicate with the communities and local authorities about new developments, and what should the focus of the projected plans.
Name: Serlyn Beypi Program and Batch: B.Sc. forestry 2017-2021 Current position: Forest Ranger Karbi angling district (Assam) Brief : Ms. Serlyn Beypi completes her B.Sc. degree during 2017-2021 in Forestry from Dolphin PG Institute. She was very active in her studies and has a great potential of sport spirit.
