Archive for the ‘IUFRO Spotlight’ Category

Forests and Fire: Intersectionality of Forests and People

Forests and Fire: Intersectionality of Forests and People

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Photo by Balbina Soriano

Throughout the Americas wildfires are changing. Forests are experiencing longer fire seasons, fires occurring outside of historic fire regions, fires burning more land on average each year, and more extreme fire behavior; some of which is attributed to a changing climate. Additionally, we are seeing an increased frequency of wildfires in populated area, impacting more homes and communities.

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Forests and Water

Forests and Water

Science-Policy-Practice Interface for Managing Forest and Water Interactions under a Changing Environment

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Kalexander73 on Pixabay

Water is fundamental to life on earth. What may not be quite so obvious is that forests are equally vital resources for life on the planet.

And the two – water and forests – are inseparable in the pursuit of a sustainable and sustainably developed world. Therefore, forests and water resources have been identified as essential elements in adaptation to climate change.

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Employment and Sustainability in Latin American Forests

Employment and Sustainability in Latin American Forests

Main Objective of Unique Entrepreneurship Guide

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IUFRO and the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) – through a Joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forest Education (JTF) – have joined forces with Reforestamos in developing an ambitious “how-to” forest-based entrepreneurship guide for use throughout Latin America.

Reforestamos is a Mexico-based NGO with a mission to safeguard forest landscapes needed for sustainable development in the region. It has, among other initiatives, supported the creation of small and growing businesses by people living in and from the forests.

The result of the IUFRO-IFSA-Reforestamos collaboration is the Guide to Forestry-Based Entrepreneurship.

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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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IUFRO Spotlight #88 – Using a social science lens on the forest bioeconomy

IUFRO Spotlight #88 – Using a social science lens on the forest bioeconomy

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Graphic showing two drawn faces; one has a forest as a background, the other has a city as a background.
Cover design for Ambio special section by Alex Giurca

In many countries, forests are important sources of renewable biomass and figure prominently in bioeconomy strategies.

Forests can be stretched beyond their traditional applications and used in textiles, chemicals, and cross-laminated timber, among other things, and can provide climate and ecological benefits, lead to rural employment opportunities and add to regional growth.

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IUFRO Spotlight #87 – Getting everyone on board to succeed in forest landscape restoration

IUFRO Spotlight #87 – Getting everyone on board to succeed in forest landscape restoration

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Alignment and planting in SMM Komitibanda.
Photo: Forest College & Research Institute, Telangana, India

The world is degraded.  Worldwide, according to a 2018 UNESCO publication, land degradation affects 3.2 billion people – about 40% of humanity.

The degradation is human caused, drives species extinction, intensifies climate change, and adds to mass human migration and increased conflict, the report indicated.

So, a critical question becomes: how do we build or, perhaps more accurately, rebuild a sustainable world?

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IUFRO Spotlight #86 – Analyzing the complicated forest-water relationship

IUFRO Spotlight #86 – Analyzing the complicated forest-water relationship

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Riparian vegetation and landscape in Mongolia, a country where freshwater resources are scarce – Photo by Alexander Buck, IUFRO

More than 500 years ago Leonardo da Vinci said: “Water is the driving force of all nature.”

There is a corollary that could easily be added to da Vinci’s truism: Water is greatly aided and abetted in that role by forests.

Forests play an integral role in the water cycle by enhancing the world’s supply of clean water. Much of the globe’s freshwater is provided through forested catchments.

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IUFRO Spotlight #85 – Variety: the spice of life, also for future forests

IUFRO Spotlight #85 – Variety: the spice of life, also for future forests

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Cork oak seeds (Viterbo, Italy). Photo by Dr. Giovanbattista de Dato

Forests in the Mediterranean and similar biodiversity hotspot regions are degrading rapidly due to the interaction of multiple stressors – both natural and anthropogenic.

The accelerated degradation poses a serious threat to the diversity of forest genetic resources (FGR).

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Spotlight #84 – Task Force probes ‘whys’ behind increased tree mortality

Spotlight #84 – Task Force probes ‘whys’ behind increased tree mortality

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Several trees of different species died after the strong hot and dry period during the 2015-16 El Niño drought in Central Amazon (photo). Now scientists are trying to understand the impacts of this drought event, and subsequent tree mortality, on the carbon stocks in the Amazon basin. Photo by Adriane Esquivel Muelbert

Tree mortality appears to be increasing at unprecedented rates.

One may be tempted to think: So what? Trees regenerate. They’ll grow back.

But, for a lot of reasons, it’s not quite that simple.

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Spotlight #83 – Examining the Economic Drivers of Wildfire: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Finance

Spotlight #83 – Examining the Economic Drivers of Wildfire: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Finance

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Professional firefighters try to stop an advancing fire with the help of local volunteers in Galicia, Spain. Photo by Nelson Grima

“The world is ablaze. Or so it seems, and the scenario is repeating itself every year now,” says Dr. François-Nicolas Robinne, of the University of Alberta’s Department of Renewable Resources, and Coordinator of IUFRO’s Fire$: Economic Drivers of Global Wildland Fire Activity Task Force (TF).

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IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations