History of the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute

The Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (former Tropical Silviculture Unit) was established at the Department of Forest Ecology, University of Helsinki, in 1980, as a research group for educational and research collaboration especially with Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. This cooperation had started already in 1966 as a scholarship programme for Thai students in Finland.

By 1984, when the professorship in tropical silviculture was established at University of Helsinki, VITRI had become involved in afforestation and tree nursery projects supported by the Finnish government in Indonesia, the Sudan and Kenya. Other essential tasks were forest researcher education for the partner countries and support to their institutions, as well as the training of Finnish tropical foresters and forest researchers. From Southeast Asia and eastern Africa the activities have later expanded to Central America, China and West Africa. Presently, VITRI has ongoing research activities also in Costa Rica, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Ghana.

The present research topics at VITRI include, both in humid and dry regions, the regeneration and successional dynamics of trees in natural forests; forest tree eco-physiology and population genetics; agroforestry system management and modelling; community-based management of forests; and the rehabilitation of natural forests and agricultural production systems. Strong institutional links are maintained especially with Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand), Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) (Costa Rica), Nanjing Forestry University (China); and the Forests National Corporation, the Forestry Research Centre of the Agricultural Research Corporation and the University of Khartoum (all in Sudan). VITRI is actively involved in the European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN) and collaborating with several European countries.

VITRI has been led since its establishment by Dr Olavi Luukkanen, professor of tropical silviculture. In addition, the unit consists of a lecturer in tropical silviculture and about fifteen researchers or doctoral students, and Finnish and international M.Sc. students specializing in tropical silviculture. VITRI publishes its own international journal, "University of Helsinki Tropical Forestry Reports" with 27 issues printed as of 2005.