Aulia Aruan

I currently serve as an expert on Sustainable Forest Management in the Project Management Unit of the FOLU Norway Contribution Phase 1.

My work focuses on governance, coordination, and ensuring that climate targets are supported by credible systems and reliable data. While I’m not involved in the direct execution of projects, I instead play a crucial role in guiding and reviewing how implementing partners operate, helping ensure alignment with national priorities and long-term commitments.

What I find most rewarding is seeing complex systems begin to work more coherently. It is encouraging when policies reflect ecological limits and social realities, when forests are no longer treated solely as “resources,” but as living systems central to climate resilience, livelihoods, and national identity. I also get a deep sense of fulfilment in seeing younger professionals grow in confidence and rigor, and when, at this stage of my career, my experience allows me to strengthen decisions before they are implemented.

I chose the University of Canterbury because it was the only university in New Zealand offering a professional forestry degree, and the way UC treated forestry, ecology, economics, and policy as interconnected disciplines, rather than separate silos, really appealed to me. UC also emphasized independence, critical thinking and academic consistency. This research culture challenged me to mature not just academically, but also intellectually, something that I really value and continues to shape how I approach forestry, climate policy and sustainability today.

For my PhD, I developed a regional planning framework for industrial forest plantation development in Indonesia using interactive Multi-Objective Decision Making (MODM) models, specifically MINMAX and MINSUM goal programming. The framework analysed trade-offs across production, social, economic, environmental, and location factors. I also integrated financial criteria such as IRR and NPV through a minimum economic size model.

I spent seven and a half years at UC. I fondly remember long research hours, weekly postgraduate meetings, and many discussions with fellow students from Africa, Asia, North America, and elsewhere. Those exchanges sharpened my thinking and broadened my perspective.

UC helped to give me a sense of perspective, one in which I learned the value of stepping back - of seeing research not as an isolated task, but as part of a larger journey. UC instilled in me patience, discipline and resilience, learnings that have stayed with me long after graduation.

There were technical setbacks during my modelling work, but persistence and peer input helped resolve them. I completed my PhD after addressing written comments from my examiners, Dr Bruce Manley from New Zealand and Dr Neil Byron from Australia, and I passed with minor revisions and a Grade B. I also appreciated the supportive culture within the School of Forestry, particularly from my supervisors Dr Graham Whyte and Dr Ted Bilek, and from Professor Geoffrey Sweet, and Professor Roger Sands.

Professor Sweet and his lovely wife Margaret used to invite all the overseas postgrads and their families to their home for Christmas lunch or dinner each year. Their incredible generosity has always stayed with me and is one of my fondest memories.