All year round, IUFRO (www.iufro.org) scientists hold or participate in meetings to present results and exchange knowledge in all fields of research related to forests. Quite recently, only a short time before the Global Landscapes Forum in mid-November on the sidelines of the Warsaw Climate Change Conference, IUFRO scientists were again discussing issues of great relevance to this upcoming event, namely at the:
1st International Symposium on Afforestation of Pastures in Subtropical Regions
Read more…
All year round, IUFRO (www.iufro.org) scientists hold or participate in meetings to present results and exchange knowledge in all fields of research related to forests. Quite recently, only a short time before the Global Landscapes Forum in mid-November on the sidelines of the Warsaw Climate Change Conference, IUFRO scientists were again discussing issues of great relevance to this upcoming event, namely at the:
RegioResources (RR) 21-2013 conference: A cross-disciplinary dialogue on future perspectives for a sustainable development of regional resources
Read more…
Planted forests’ roles: Different strokes for different oaks
PDF for download
Maritime pine in its early stages of plantation (photo by Stephanie Hayes, EFIATLANTIC)
Planted forests are vital but vulnerable resources that can contribute in a sustainable fashion to some of humanity’s most pressing needs – poverty alleviation, food security, renewable energy, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, and biodiversity conservation – as well as the preservation of natural forests.
These are among the findings in the recently published Summary Report of the 3rd International Congress on Planted Forests. It is based on outcomes from three scientific workshops and a plenary meeting that took place earlier this year.
Thirty-three countries have greater than 1 million hectares of planted forest area. Together these countries comprise 90% of the world’s 264 million hectares of planted forest which, in turn, equals almost 7% of the total global forest area. The report takes into account key research findings from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Latin America and North America related to vulnerability, viability and governance of planted forests.
Read more…
Logging operations in Northwest British Columbia, Canada (Photo by John Innes)
Scientists, practitioners and decision-makers from around the world meet in Vancouver, Canada from 27 to 30 August 2013 to discuss the implications of globalization on forests and their management.
PDF of Press Release for download
(Vancouver/Vienna, 27 August 2013) Globalization is changing forests and the forest sector. Increases in international trade and investments have altered the global business environment for forestry. The growing world population moving towards nine billion by 2050, economic growth, rising resources demand and increasing environmental concerns are other drivers fostering transformation in forestry and the management of forests. New players enter the global market, and the bio-economy –– the production of ‘green’ products from renewable resources –– is gaining weight. From 27 to 30 August 2013, more than 100 representatives from research, industry and government will discuss how global trends influence forest resources, and how new opportunities for forest entrepreneurs and a more resource efficient society can be harnessed. The Conference has been organized by the University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Forestry, on behalf of the Task Force “Resources for the Future” of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).
Read more…
XXIV IUFRO World Congress
“Sustaining Forests, Sustaining People: The Role of Research”
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: October 5-11, 2014
http://www.iufro2014.com/ – http://www.iufro.org/events/congresses/2014/
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
PDFs for download:
Call for Abstracts – Llamado para enviar resúmenes – Appel à la soumission de résumés
Description of Congress Themes and Sessions
Read more…
Wildfire projected to spread like, well, wildfire
PDF for download
Boreal wildfire, Saskatchewan, Canada (Photo by Bill de Groot, Natural Resources Canada – Canadian Forest Service)
A recently published study: Global Wildland Fire Season Severity in the 21st Century, indicates that in coming decades, conventional approaches to wildfire management may no longer be effective.
It appears in a Forest Ecology and Management journal special issue entitled The Mega-fire reality, published by Elsevier. The study is a first global review that shows the extent of the increasing length of the fire season and the increasing fire weather severity.
Read more…
In addition to the original Spanish version of the Congress resolutions, an adapted translation into English has now been released.
Read more…
The Third IUFRO Latin American Congress under the theme of “Forests, Competitiveness and Sustainable Landscapes” held in San José, Costa Rica, from 12-15 June 2013, was an extraordinary experience as it brought together a unique range of actors from the natural resources sector of Latin America and provided an ideal platform for intensive discussion and exchange of experiences.
Read more…
(Edited translation of press release)
Find the Spanish release written by Karla Salazar Leiva, CATIE Communications, at:
http://web.catie.ac.cr/iufrolat/IufroLat_prensa.htm
On 14 June, the Third IUFRO Latin American Congress (IUFROLAT 2013), one of the largest forest research events in Latin America, came to a close.
Read more…
Hans Grosse Werner (Photo courtesy of INFOR)
Results of a stable state policy in support of forests: the case of Chile
Friday, 14 June 2013At the beginning of his speech Hans Grosse Werner congratulated the congress organizers on this splendid event and underlined that this congress will certainly have increased the visibility of IUFRO in Latin America.
The focus of the presentation was on the development of forest cover and forest legislation and institutions in Chile with particular emphasis on forest plantations, production and exports, progress made and pending tasks for the future.
Grosse gave an overview of Chilean forest history from prehistoric times to colonialism and the dramatic loss of forest cover mainly due to mining activities in the 19th century, and important steps in implementing regulative legislation in the 20th century.
“Thanks to the policies and laws that were introduced between 1912 and 2011, about 30% of the native forest could be recovered and 2.6 million ha of plantation forests could be added so that the overall forest cover in Chile eventually amounts to 16 million ha today”, said Grosse.
These legislative instruments relate mainly to the introduction of inventories, reforestation programmes, management plans, conservation areas and the development of forest curricula. However, the establishment of institutions to implement and control these regulations and ensure sustainability lagged somewhat behind. The Chilean forest institute INFOR and the national forest corporation CONAF were only founded in 1961 and 1973, respectively. A Ministry for the Environment was set up in 2010.
Yet, despite the progress made, there are still challenges to be overcome. One of these, says Grosse in conclusion, is the strengthening of the small and medium-sized forest-related enterprises. There are incentive programmes in place, but more needs to be done.
This keynote address was the final one in a series of high-level keynote speeches presented in the course of the 3rd IUFRO Latin American Congress.
