Posts Tagged ‘forest landscape restoration’

IUFRO Spotlight #43: Helping forests and people adapt to changing times and climes

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The world’s forests seem beset on all sides.

Rising populations and improved incomes are increasing demands for forest products and services ranging from the traditional – food, fuel and timber – to more recently recognized needs such as biomass, bioenergy, nature conservation, recreation and health, as well as forest biodiversity conservation.

“It is a great challenge to restore forest landscape in largely deforested areas.” Photo: John Stanturf.

At the same time, those rising populations – and changing preferences, such as increased demand for meat and dairy products – lead to forests being cleared to free up land for agricultural and pasture purposes.

Add the other drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, plus increasing temperatures, rapidly altering precipitation patterns and the impacts of continuously growing carbon dioxide concentrations on forest vegetation photosynthesis; and then throw in more extreme weather events that lead to more frequent and intensified droughts and wildfires, the migration of tree pests and diseases – aided by globalization – and one has a global forest under siege. Read more…

Forest Adaptation and Restoration under Global Change – Asian and Oceania Perspectives

Session A-9A (65): Forest Adaptation and Restoration under Global Change – Asian and Oceanian perspectives
27 October 2016, 13:30-15:30; Room 303A

Learn more about the IUFRO Task Force on “Forest Adaptation and Restoration under Global Change”: http://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/forest-adaptation-restoration/

iufroao2016-blog-adaptationThis session, organised by the IUFRO Task Force on “Forest Adaptation and Restoration under Global Change”, discussed various aspects of restoring forest ecosystems under conditions found in the Asia and Oceania regions.

In the first presentation, John Stanturf (US Forest Service) explained the potential benefits that forest landscape restoration can have on mitigating as well as adapting to climate change. These included aspects such as diverse species and structures at stand scale; age classes of tree vegetation at landscape scale and connectivity. Read more…

Interview with Don Koo Lee, Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Keynote speaker at the IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania – Forests for Sustainable Development: The Role of Research

iufro-ao2016-interview-keynote-dklee-lee-with-captionProfessor Lee, the overarching theme of this IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania is “Forests for Sustainable Development: The Role of Research”. When you gave your opening speech as President of IUFRO at the XXIII IUFRO World Congress 2010 in Seoul, you stressed the importance of sustainability, equity, growth and development and the need to understand that “Forest is our life, our hope, and our future.”

Q: What would you say has been achieved in the quest for sustainable development since the 2010 IUFRO World Congress?

A: Since then the important role of forests for life, hope and future has been further strengthened internationally by collaborative partnership activities, (e.g. co-research, advanced studies, site visits, trainings, conferences, etc.) especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as nationally by the Forest For Life National Movement in Korea. Read more…

Governance and Forest Landscape Restoration at IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016

Summary on a session held at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Hawai’i, USA, on 3 September 2016

The purpose of the session was to better understand governance challenges related to forest landscape restoration (FLR) implementation, and options to address these. The session was organised as follows: Stephanie Mansourian introduced the subject of governance and FLR. She was followed by four case study presentations: Nadine Crookes from Parks Canada, John Crockett from the US Forest Service, Gérard Rambeloarisoa from the Madagascar Biodiversity Fund and Chris Buss from IUCN, and then 20 minutes of questions and discussion. A total of 30-40 participants attended the one hour session. Read more…

Spotlight #35 – Cool it! Use Forest Landscape Restoration to Fight Climate Change

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The stoplight tool is essentially a simplified presentation of complex restoration initiatives, and how they may contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and vice-versa, in a specific local context. (Image by Yougen/iStock)

The stoplight tool is essentially a simplified presentation of complex restoration initiatives, and how they may contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and vice-versa, in a specific local context. (Image by Yougen/iStock)

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) can be a major weapon in the battle against climate change.

FLR can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation by increasing the productivity of landscapes and by enhancing the resilience of forest ecosystems and reducing the vulnerability of forest-dependent communities.

When one considers that about 25% of the world’s land surface is being degraded in one way or another and about 15% of that land surface is considered appropriate for forest landscape restoration, it underlines both the need for significant remedial action while, at the same time, pointing to a reasonable and beneficial way to achieve that restoration. Read more…

IUCN Campaign – Plant a Pledge

IUCN has launched a campaign, « Plant a Pledge » , and is asking readers to sign the petition at www.plantapledge.com. It takes just a minute of your time!

IUCN is hoping that you will help the campaign by reaching out as widely as possible, by helping to promote the campaign through your networks, through publicising it through the web, social media, presentations and word of mouth.

Plant a Pledgewww.plantapledge.com – is an opportunity for the global public to tell world leaders and land owners that they support the goal to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands by the year 2020. The goal is an implementation vehicle for achieving CBD Aichi Target 15 and has become known as the “Bonn Challenge” after it was launched in Bonn, Germany, in September 2011.

The Bonn Challenge target to restore 150 million hectares by 2020 came second when over 1 million people took part in the on-line public Rio Dialogue vote for the most important global recommendation during the recent UN summit in Brazil, “Rio+20”.

Restoring 150 million hectares would inject billions of new dollars into economies every year, and would significantly help mitigate climate change, boost biodiversity and reduce poverty.

The Plant a Pledge petition will gather the signatures from people across the globe, and will be personally delivered by our Ambassador Bianca Jagger to senior delegates at an upcoming high level international meeting, urging land owners and governments to dedicate land to landscape restoration.

Help gather enough signatures to really turn the heads of those leaders and convince them to commit to the Bonn Challenge.

The website www.plantapledge.com  will give you lots more information on the campaign and on forest landscape restoration.

Please go there now and sign the petition and urge all your friends, contacts and networks to do the same, by forwarding this message, and ideally also by sharing it through other means.

If you have time to explore the site, you might like to watch the videos, explore the interactive restoration globe, read the case studies and learn more about the issue and the campaign.

Other things you can do to support this important campaign are:

–        follow the campaign on twitter: http://twitter.com/PlantAPledge
–       ‘like’ the campaign on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/plantapledge
–       Tell all your friends, colleagues and networks and ask them to sign, too!

Thank you for your support!

IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations