From tro­pical Nepal to cold Fin­land

Joensuu is an excellent option for the Forest Capital of Europe

Muna Chaud­ha­ry, 27, has been wor­king in Joen­suu at Arbo­naut Oy since 2022. He works as a Geo­grap­hic Infor­ma­tion Sys­tem and remo­te sen­sing ana­lyst.

Chaud­ha­ry comple­ted his Bac­he­lor of Science in Fore­stry in Nepal in 2020, after which he applied to the Mas­ter of Science in Euro­pean Fore­stry pro­gram­me in 2021, which inclu­ded stu­dying both in Fin­land and abroad. Chaud­ha­ry arri­ved in Joen­suu in July 2021.

Chaud­ha­ry lan­ded his job through an interns­hip. He has recom­men­ded stu­dying in Fin­land to his inter­na­tio­nal friends and col­lea­gues.

– My day-to-day res­pon­si­bi­li­ties invol­ve digi­tal data proces­sing and ana­ly­sis, cont­ri­bu­ting vital insights into fore­stry infor­ma­tion, and gene­ra­ting satis­fac­to­ry pro­ducts for cus­to­mers, Chaud­ha­ry desc­ri­bes.

Chaudhary’s main tasks invol­ve data proces­sing, inclu­ding 3D data, laser scan­ning data, and satel­li­te data, as well as con­duc­ting forest inven­to­ry ana­ly­sis. His role focuses on both proces­sing and ana­ly­sing data to crea­te bet­ter pro­ducts for clients.

He secu­red this job through an interns­hip he comple­ted ear­lier this year, star­ting his cur­rent part-time posi­tion alrea­dy during the interns­hip.

Dif­fe­rences between fore­stry in Nepal and Fin­land

Chaud­ha­ry says that in Nepal, the­re isn’t as much expe­rience, advance­ment, or deve­lop­ment in forest bio­eco­no­my as in Fin­land. The resources, such as bio­fuel, are not as abun­dant. In cont­rast, Fin­land has made sig­ni­ficant progress in this field.

Addi­tio­nal­ly, the forests in Fin­land are comple­te­ly dif­fe­rent from tho­se in Nepal, whe­re the forests are more tro­pical.

I apprecia­te how forests are mana­ged here, and I also enjoy the sau­na and the snow, Chaud­ha­ry says with a chuckle.

Nepal focuses more on forest pro­tec­tion, whi­le Chaud­ha­ry wan­ted to learn how forests in Fin­land are used, mana­ged, and main­tai­ned. Accor­ding to Chaud­ha­ry, the forest mana­ge­ment sty­le in Fin­land is enti­re­ly dif­fe­rent, and he was eager to explo­re the­se dif­fe­rences first­hand.

– Geo­grap­hic infor­ma­tion sys­tem and remo­te sen­sing are impor­tant for mana­ging ani­mal habi­tats such as grazing and dama­ges of tree saplings and popu­la­tion mana­ge­ment – like hun­ting of moo­se – in Fin­land. And how the­se two aspects, wild­li­fe habi­tat and popu­la­tion mana­ge­ment, cor­re­la­ted with other eco­lo­gical and socio­lo­gical aspects, Chaud­ha­ry sta­tes.

GIS and remo­te sen­sing tools can be used for sus­tai­nable forest mana­ge­ment, wild­li­fe con­ser­va­tion and cli­ma­te chan­ge miti­ga­tion.

During his stu­dies and research in Nepal, Muna Chaud­ha­ry focused pri­ma­ri­ly on wild­li­fe pro­tec­tion, speci­fical­ly on safe­guar­ding the prey of big cats like tigers and leo­pards through sur­veys invol­ving elep­hants.

Howe­ver, when he arri­ved in Fin­land, he was surpri­sed to see that the approach was not cen­te­red around pro­tec­tion but rat­her pro­duc­tion. In Fin­land, forest mana­ge­ment is more about opti­mizing forests for pro­duc­tion, such as tim­ber and other resources, rat­her than sole­ly focusing on con­ser­va­tion and pro­tec­tion, which was a stark cont­rast to what he was used to in Nepal.

Chaud­ha­ry belie­ves, that Joen­suu has a sig­ni­ficant advan­ta­ge due to its vast ran­ge of resources, which makes it an att­rac­ti­ve hub for various com­pa­nies in the fore­stry industry.

– My inte­rest is how inno­va­ti­ve­ly we could use GIS and remo­te sen­sing tools to deri­ve reliable infor­ma­tion from raw remo­te sen­sing data for sus­tai­nable forest mana­ge­ment, wild­li­fe con­ser­va­tion as well as cli­ma­te chan­ge miti­ga­tion and adap­ta­tion, Chaud­ha­ry tells.

– My inte­rests aren’t limi­ted on office work, but my mind cons­tant­ly thinks about how we can use that infor­ma­tion in the field as fores­ter and researc­her, Chaud­ha­ry adds.

Coming back to Fin­land

As part of Chaudhary’s Mas­ter’s pro­gram­me, he spent a year in Fin­land and then anot­her in Ger­ma­ny, whe­re he comple­ted his mas­ter’s the­sis. He has also visi­ted Spain, France, Roma­nia, and Austria to obser­ve how fore­stry skills and know­led­ge are applied in dif­fe­rent con­texts.

Through the­se expe­riences, he gai­ned exten­si­ve know­led­ge of fore­stry by col­la­bo­ra­ting with local pro­fes­sors, stu­dents, fores­ters, and col­lea­gues. Des­pi­te the­se tra­vels, Chaud­ha­ry cho­se to return to Fin­land, he has enjo­yed his time in Joen­suu.

– I apprecia­te how forests are mana­ged here, and I also enjoy the sau­na and the snow, Chaud­ha­ry says with a chuckle.

Fin­land and Nepal have clear dif­fe­rences in the way they approach their forests.

A city of exten­si­ve resources

Chaud­ha­ry belie­ves that Joen­suu has a sig­ni­ficant advan­ta­ge due to its vast ran­ge of resources, which makes it an att­rac­ti­ve hub for various com­pa­nies in the fore­stry industry. He notes that com­pa­nies like Arbo­naut and paper com­pa­nies are drawn to the region, making Joen­suu a key player in the fore­stry sec­tor.

– They mana­ge the forest not only in the span of pro­duc­tion of the pro­ducts, but also, they are hel­ping in how they can mana­ge the forest and polish the dif­fe­rent kinds of forest pro­ducts from the forest, Chaud­ha­ry sta­tes.

He also feels that the Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land offers a wealth of resources for teac­hing fore­stry, pro­vi­ding stu­dents with top-tier tools and know­led­ge. He belie­ves that the­se assets, com­bi­ned with Joen­suu’s strong fore­stry industry, make it an ideal can­di­da­te for mar­ke­ting the city as the forest capi­tal of Euro­pe.

I have recom­men­ded stu­dying in Fin­land, and par­ticu­lar­ly in Joen­suu, to my col­lea­gues and friends around the world.

Chaud­ha­ry desc­ri­bes Joen­suu as an ideal des­ti­na­tion for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents, prai­sing the excel­lent cam­pus faci­li­ties and the nume­rous oppor­tu­ni­ties offe­red by both the city and the uni­ver­si­ty. He high­lights the high­ly skil­led and expe­rienced pro­fes­sors, as well as the exten­si­ve busi­ness network of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land, as key fac­tors he great­ly apprecia­tes.

– I have recom­men­ded stu­dying in Fin­land, and par­ticu­lar­ly in Joen­suu, to my col­lea­gues and friends around the world, because of the­se rea­sons and because of the subs­tan­tial sup­port avai­lable for stu­dents, inclu­ding tho­se inte­res­ted in ent­repre­neurs­hip, Chaud­ha­ry conclu­des.

Chaud­ha­ry is uncer­tain about his plans, but he expres­ses a pos­si­bi­li­ty to return to Nepal and beco­me a care­ta­ker for prey ani­mals such as rhi­nos in the local forests if given the oppor­tu­ni­ty.

– It would be a dream to go back to Nepal and work with the ani­mals, but I don’t know yet what the futu­re has plan­ned for me, Chaud­ha­ry says.

This mate­rial was pro­duced as part of the acti­vi­ties of the City of Joen­suu Inno­va­tion Eco­sys­tem Agree­ment (ERDF), co-fun­ded by the Euro­pean Union and the city of Joen­suu.

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