Posts Tagged ‘COVID-19’

What’s the buzz? Studying insects on ‘the web’

What’s the buzz? Studying insects on ‘the web’

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A series of webinars, originally seen as a temporary response to some of the travel constraints imposed by the COVID pandemic, will most likely continue after post-COVID equilibrium is restored.

Release-recapture experiment with Hylurgus ligniperda. Photo by Nicolas Meurisse.

“In light of the current pandemic, many scientific meetings were cancelled – including the many meetings that IUFRO Working Parties (WPs) and other units host each year,” said Dr. Jeremy Allison of the Canadian Forest Service and coordinator of IUFRO’s WP 7.03.16 that deals with Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects.

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COVID-19-induced Visitor Boom Reveals the Importance of Forests as Critical Infrastructure

COVID-19-induced Visitor Boom Reveals the Importance of Forests as Critical Infrastructure

Guest blog provided by Lukas Giessen, Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group 9.05.00 – Forest policy and governance

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the globe have implemented a certain degree of lockdown, restricting citizens’ freedom of movement and freedom of assembly. An article recently published in Forest Policy and Economics by Jakob Derks, Lukas Giessen and Georg Winkel of the European Forest Institute, Bonn, Germany, aims to illustrate the impact that the measures against the spread of COVID-19 have on forest recreation.

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The world is fighting forest fires in the midst of a pandemic

The world is fighting forest fires in the midst of a pandemic

Interview with Dr. Andrey Krasovskiy originally published in French: https://journalmetro.com/perspective/2477417/monde-lutte-feux-de-foret-pandemie/
On 25 June 2020 by Miguel Velazquez, Métro World News

Dr. Andrey Krasovskiy is a Research Scholar working with the Ecosystems Services and Management Program (ESM) of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria: https://iiasa.ac.at/

He is a Member of the IUFRO Task Force “Fire$: Economic Drivers of Global Wildland Fire Activity”: https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/global-wildland-fire-activity/

Q: What is the outlook for forest fires this year?
Forest fires are likely to keep the dynamics from previous years. Along with the problematic regions, such as Amazon, where forest fires are driven by deforestation, and Indonesia, where extremely vulnerable peatland areas are located, considerable fire events are to be expected in boreal forests of Russia, the US, and Canada. The forest fires might also show relative increase compared to previous years in Central European countries. There is a danger that post-quarantine human activities will further add to forest fire frequency in the Mediterranean region, as well as globally.

Skeeze on Pixabay
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Spotlight #79 – A Focus on Gender Equality in Forestry

Spotlight #79 – A Focus on Gender Equality in Forestry

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Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash

When one thinks of forests, forestry and forest research, gender equality is probably not the first thing that springs to mind.

But it actually makes a lot of sense, explains Dr. Gun Lidestav, of the Department of Forest Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science. Dr Lidestav is also Coordinator of the IUFRO Gender Equality in Forestry Task Force (TF).

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Studying Forestry to be Part of a Solution to a Problem

Interview with IFSA President Amos Amanubo

During the XXV IUFRO World Congress Gala Dinner. Photo by Morne Booij Liewes, FABI

Amos is a 25 year old Ugandan and a recent graduate from Makerere University, Kampala, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation Forestry and Production Technology. He has been the President of the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) since August 2019. His favorite pastimes are cycling through natural landscapes and meeting friends.

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View from the forest: the interlinked crises of COVID-19, environmental degradation and inequity – A Guest Blog

The underlying cause of the COVID-19 pandemic is the spill-over of a virus from a presumed bat wildlife source – and its spread in the vast human population and its vulnerable systems. There are many questions yet unanswered about the virus’s source – which species of bat, was it sold in the Wuhan Wet Market, did a number of bat-human transmissions occur or were transmissions to other animal species involved in the development of a virus capable of human to human transmission. For the moment all efforts are on controlling the disease. It has emerged and spread rapidly around the highly connected planet. In the long run, understanding how to prevent further such pandemics will be a major focus.

Photographer: © Yingyod Lapwong,
Link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
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IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education

IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education

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“The future is for the young generation,” said Dr. Shirong Liu of the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

“And,” he added, “changes in the forest sector have led to new trends in forest education globally.

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The Reality of Virtuality – Sharing the GFEP Panel’s Digital Meeting Experience

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In a globally connected world, we are used to communicating online. Nevertheless, many of us have been caught flat-footed by the sudden need to step up our virtual collaborations and give up face-to-face meetings due to the coronavirus pandemic. Read how 25 scientists of IUFRO’s Global Forest Expert Panel (GFEP) on Forests and Poverty and the GFEP team at IUFRO Headquarters virtually jumped in at the deep end and learned how to swim.

Participants of our virtually held 3rd meeting of the Global Forest Expert Panel on Forests and Poverty, April 2020
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IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations