Thünen: · Mission and Vision

A timber truck fully loaded with logs drives over a very simple wooden bridge in a forest.

Institute of

WF Forestry

Federal Research Institutes of BMEL as a whole

Mission
The Federal Research Institutes under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV)¹ have the mission of providing science-based decision support for food, agriculture, forestry, as well as consumer protection related policy and thereby augmenting the scientific knowledge on these subject areas for the benefit of the public welfare.

¹ In the meantime renamed as Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)
² Source: Ordinance of the Thünen-Institute, preamble, last amended at 01.10.2013

Forests cover one third of the land surface of the earth.

The preservation of forests and sustainable forest management are goals in a set of international agreements. Many aspects of these agreements deal with economics. Topics include the impact of institutional frameworks, competition with other forms of land use and therefore cost of forest protection and ecosystem services. These topics provide economic starting points for enhancing sustainability of forest management and forest protection worldwide.

In Germany, preservation of forest is safeguarded by law. But even here there are competing demands on forests. In order to balance these competing demands the value of individual as well as collective benefits resulting from different forest management options need to be quantified.

National and international forestry is connected through the establishment of sector policies, such as European bio-energy policy. It is also intrinsically linked through international wood markets. Given Germany’s position as a large exporter it is intensively involved in international wood markets.

The Thünen Institute of Forestry has four research areas which address these topics:

Forestry in Germany
Forestry Worldwide
Forest Products Markets and
Forests and Society.

Thünen Institute

Motto
Fields, Forests, Seas - shaping life basics
Scientific, Close to Policy, Independent

Thünen Institute of Forestry

To comply with this overarching mission and the Thünen-wide motto the Thünen Institute of Forestry has specified and derived its mission and vision, respectively.

Our Mission
We analyse the national as well as international framework conditions for forestry, forest based livelihoods and for the forest based industry, assess the manifold forest ecosystem services and conclude options for actions for policy and practice.

Our Vision
With excellent research we contribute to the implementation and improvement of sustainable management and use of forests in Germany and worldwide for the benefit of all people.

Cooperations

The Thünen Institute of Forestry works closely with the Fakultät für Forstwissenschaften und Waldökologie der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

The Thünen Institute of Forestry works closely with the TUM School of Life Sciences Technical University of Munich.

The Thünen Institute of Forestry works closely with the Institute for Wood Science of the University of Hamburg. Jointy, we operate the degree programe of wood sciences.

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