Forest and Landscape faces drastic cutbacks

Forest and Landscape at the Faculty of Life Sciences has axed ten jobs. The centre has bid farewell to one tenth of its total workforce over the past few years

by Claus Baggersgaard. English version by Luci Ellis

Ten employees have been laid off at Forest & Landscape at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Life Sciences (Life). The centre has come to an agreement with a further 14 members of staff regarding a reduction of working hours or voluntary redundancies.

This means that the centre’s staff has been reduced by around ten percent in total, including the jobs abolished in 2009.

»This is the third round of cutbacks affecting 10-15 per cent of the workforce, over the past eight years. I sincerely hope it is the last,« states professor Niels Elers Koch, director of Forest & Landscape.

Reduced state funding

Niels Elers Koch explains that the job cuts are partly due to general economic cutbacks at the University of Copenhagen, which affect a number of institutes at Life.

Another reason for the firings is the fact that a number of state-funded forestry research projects have either been completely shut down or dramatically reduced over the past year.

Niels Elers Koch understands that the centre must bear a part of the burden of University-wide cutbacks, but feels that giving forestry research a lower priority on a national level is a mistake.

Incomprehensible

»It is worrying and incomprehensible that state funding of forestry research has been reduced, at a time when forests are so high on the political agenda internationally. Never before have there been so many people who want to make use of so many different products, goods and services from the forests – both in Denmark and globally,« he writes in a press release.

He adds that, as a result of the cutbacks, Danish forest and landscape research will lose important competences which have taken decades to nurture.

»It is a sad day for the Danish forests and for Danish society in general, and of course it is a sad day for the individuals who have been fired,« concludes Niels Elers Koch.

In total, Life has nominated 50 employees to be fired.

luci@adm.ku.dk

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