Master's program - Governing Oil Palm Landscapes for Sustainability (GOLS)

The forest management and conservation challenges facing Indonesia are considerable. Indonesia overtook Brazil in 2014 to become the leading nation losing primary forest cover. Indonesia’s significant remaining biodiversity, vital for providing a host of environmental services and economic benefits, is under threat due to the loss of biodiversity-rich forests, wetlands and other landscapes. At the same time, growth in agricultural production, and particularly palm oil production, have contributed to growing national accounts and higher incomes for millions of Indonesians. Forest managers, conservationists, policy analysts and economists are needed to better assess the environmental and social costs and consequences of deforestation and biodiversity loss and help government agencies, private businesses and civil society organizations fashion solutions to Indonesia’s resource management problems.

To this end, CIFOR developed a Master’s degree graduate training program in forest management, forest and biodiversity conservation, forest economics and governance, and land use and landscape planning, and allied fields. Through this program 20-25 Indonesian students will pursue a master's degree at selected US unviersities.