Archive for the ‘Event’ Category

Congress Spotlight #74 – Computer Science Solutions to Better Understand Forest Cover and Land Use Changes in Brazil

Congress Spotlight #74 – Computer Science Solutions to Better Understand Forest Cover and Land Use Changes in Brazil

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Using 21st century technology to examine the dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) in tropical forests over time, and how those forests are affected by the changes, will be among the subjects discussed at the IUFRO World Congress in Brazil shortly.

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Congress Spotlight #73 – A Quest for Fairness in Forest Management Decisions: Integrating Indigenous Rights, Practices and Knowledge

Congress Spotlight #73 – A Quest for Fairness in Forest Management Decisions: Integrating Indigenous Rights, Practices and Knowledge

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“The practices, rights and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in forestry are being increasingly recognized by national policies, international treaties and by business arrangements such as certification,” said Dr. Stephen Wyatt of the School of Forestry at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada.

Haida Heritage Centre at sunrise. Photo: Ngaio Hotte.

“But,” he said, “actually putting these into practice is challenging.”

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How will the Sustainable Development Goals affect forests and people?

How will the Sustainable Development Goals affect forests and people?

Since Agenda 2030 was launched in 2015, plenty of attention has been paid to the contributions which forests can make to its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, relatively little attention has been given to the possible impacts which the SDGs will have on forests, forest ecosystems and people benefitting from forests, and how this might contribute to, or undermine, the role forests play in improving human well-being and protecting the environment.

Photo: Safia Aggarwal, FAO
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Congress Spotlight #72 – Radioactive Contamination and Forests: Learning Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima

Congress Spotlight #72 – Radioactive Contamination and Forests: Learning Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima

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Forests, except in the most severe cases, are quite resilient to radioactive contamination and will continue functioning normally.

That is one of the surprising takeaways from the nuclear accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Dose rate reduction test by decontamination work in Fukushima.
Photo: FFPRI
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Congress Spotlight #71 – High Time to Again Pay More Attention to Ecological Processes in Sustainable Forest Management

Congress Spotlight #71 – High Time to Again Pay More Attention to Ecological Processes in Sustainable Forest Management

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Human needs and our environment continue to change. Because of that, forest management practices, in terms of sustainable forest management (SFM), need to be updated, said Dr. Liu Shirong, Professor of Forest Ecology and Hydrology and President of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China.

Introducing nitrogen-fixing tree species of Erythrophleum fordii into Eucalyptus plantation for preventing soil fertility degradation while enhancing soil carbon sequestration in the Experimental Center of Tropical Forestry (ETCF), Chinese Academy of Forestry, Pingxiang city, Guangxi Autonomous Region, PR. China. Photo: Guo Wenfu, ETCF.
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Congress Spotlight #69 – Sifting through underlying values and ethics to make sound nature management decisions

Congress Spotlight #69 – Sifting through underlying values and ethics to make sound nature management decisions

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How does one decide how to manage a forest ethically?

Ema Image by arqgilson from Pixabay

One could simply say: do the right thing. But, the right thing for whom? And defining right and wrong – concepts that can vary according to moral climate or individual circumstance – is not all that simple.

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Congress Spotlight #68 – Forest Trees and the Climate Change Challenge: Survival May Mean Diving into the Gene Pool

Congress Spotlight #68 – Forest Trees and the Climate Change Challenge: Survival May Mean Diving into the Gene Pool

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Because of climate change, forest tree species have three options. They can adapt, migrate, or extirpate.

“The outcome depends upon the tree species and population, its genetic variation, its reproductive biology and flowering synchronization, its migration potential and whether the environments in the areas it can migrate will be hospitable enough to allow it to survive,” said Dr. Paraskevi Alizoti of the Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement in the School of Forestry and Natural Environment at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Altitudinally marginal population of Pinus mugo in Italy.
Source: http://map-fgr.entecra.it/?page_id=1377
Photo by Piero Belletti
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IUFRO Spotlight #67 – Tapping the potential of restoring disturbed tropical forests

IUFRO Spotlight #67 – Tapping the potential of restoring disturbed tropical forests

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Since the 1980s most deforestation globally has occurred in tropical countries – Africa, South America and Asia. The high rate of deforestation and degradation contributes to the disappearance of 13 million hectares of tropical forests each year.

Secondary forests in Costa Rica. Photo by Geoffrey Venegas, CATIE.
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Forest Education Needed in all Schools Around the World

Forest Education Needed in all Schools Around the World

NOTE: This text is reblogged without any changes from the Joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forest Education blog post “Forest Education Needed in all Schools Around the World” at https://foresteducation.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/forest-education-needed-in-all-schools-around-the-world/.

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) held this week in New York shined a spotlight on the topic of forest education.International organizations and member countries alike discussed the importance of strengthening forestry education, beginning from a young age in elementary level education up to university level and beyond. The relevance of forest education at schools is based on ensuring the next generation understands the positive role forests can play in helping humanity combat some of our most profound challenges; contributing to mitigation and resilience efforts in the face of climate change, housing massive terrestrial biodiversity and positively contributing to food and water security all of which are outlined in the UN’s 2030 agenda and featured in their 17 sustainable development goals.

Dr. Mika Rekola, representing the University of Helsinki and IUFRO, was featured on a panel discussion where he presented his background paper co-authored by Dr. Monica Gabay.  The paper highlighted three key messages.

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IUFRO Spotlight #65 – Tying up loose ends in gender equality in forestry

IUFRO Spotlight #65 – Tying up loose ends in gender equality in forestry

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Social movement by indigenous women (temporarily) stops mining inside community forest in Odisha, India.
Social movement by indigenous women (temporarily) stops mining inside community forest in Odisha, India. Credit: Landing Together Film/Purabi Bose, date 28/08/2016

“In recent years gender equality in forestry has received a lot of attention – or lip service, anyway – but that’s not good enough. There exist a lot of loose ends at the practice and at the policy level,” said Dr. Purabi Bose, author, social environmental scientist, filmmaker and deputy coordinator of the IUFRO Gender and Forestry Research Group.

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IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations