IUFRO Spotlight #85 – Variety: the spice of life, also for future forests
IUFRO Spotlight #85 – Variety: the spice of life, also for future forests
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).
Read more…Spotlight #84 – Task Force probes ‘whys’ behind increased tree mortality
Spotlight #84 – Task Force probes ‘whys’ behind increased tree mortality
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.
Read more…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
“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).
Spotlight #82 – More local involvement one key to FLR success
Spotlight #82 – More local involvement one key to FLR success
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
That classic line from the Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke, has since become a catch phrase to describe situations – some comical, others quite serious – that go awry when people aren’t on the same page.
Used in its more serious sense, that phrase can explain the failure of many Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) projects.
Read more…Spotlight #81 – Developing evidence-based cases for planted forests
Spotlight #81 – Developing evidence-based cases for planted forests
Plantation forests get a bad rap.
That’s the assessment of Christophe Orazio, who is coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force (TF) on Resilient Planted Forests and, after having led the Planted Forests Facility of the European Forest Institute (EFI-PFF) until its closure in 2019, is now director of the European Institute for Cultivated Forest (IEFC).
Plantation forests get a bad rap.
That’s the assessment of Christophe Orazio, who is coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force (TF) on Resilient Planted Forests and, after having led the Planted Forests Facility of the European Forest Institute (EFI-PFF) until its closure in 2019, is now director of the European Institute for Cultivated Forest (IEFC).
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.
Read more…Spotlight #80 – Becoming visible – non-timber forest products and a sustainable economy
Spotlight #80 – Becoming visible – non-timber forest products and a sustainable economy
One positive and largely overlooked outcome of the current coronavirus could be a stronger bioeconomy.
“I think the pandemic is going to spur the bioeconomy,” said Dr. James Chamberlain of the United States Forest Service, Southern Research Station in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Coordinator of IUFRO’s Unlocking the Bioeconomy and Non-Timber Forest Products Task Force.
Read more…Spotlight #79 – A Focus on Gender Equality in Forestry
Spotlight #79 – A Focus on Gender Equality in Forestry
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).
Read more…IUFRO Spotlight #78 – More robust strategy needed to combat forest fires in Alps
IUFRO Spotlight #78 – More robust strategy needed to combat forest fires in Alps
An increasing risk of forest fires in the European Alps has led to a white paper that proposes a framework for integrated fire management to address the drivers of the current and future fire regimes in mountain forests.
To develop the white paper, entitled Forest Fires in the Alps, a panel from all member states of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) – Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein – was established. These scientists, members of action forces, authorities and other forest fire experts pulled together the fire experiences and knowledge of the various countries.
IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education
IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education
“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.