Posts Tagged ‘climate change’

IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education

IUFRO Spotlight #77 – Stepping up the Global Discussion on Forest Education

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“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.

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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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Putting a Halt to Tropical Forest Loss is a Matter of Human Survival

Putting a Halt to Tropical Forest Loss is a Matter of Human Survival

(Vienna, 9 September 2019) Never before, it seems, have forests received as much public attention as at present. Sadly, the reasons for this are most distressing: forest fires of unprecedented dimensions all over the globe; a growing lack of resistance of trees to stressors such as drought, pests and diseases; and the uncontrolled exploitation of forests in environmentally sensitive areas.

© LEOFFREITAS/FLICKR/GETTY IMAGES
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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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Burn notice: Fire’s reality in the 21st century

Burn notice: Fire’s reality in the 21st century

NOTE: This text is reblogged without any changes from an article written by Hugh Biggar (Landscape News) about IUFRO Occasional Paper 32 – Global Fire Challenges in a Warming World, at https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/34468/burn-notice-fires-reality-in-the-21st-century/.

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As a result of the extreme weather driven by climate change, fires are an increasingly common fact of life globally – one that calls for new approaches to living with fire, according to a report developed by a multinational team of experts.

“Data shows a trend of increasing frequency and intensity of uncontrolled fires adversely affecting biodiversity, ecological systems, human well-being and livelihood, and national economies,” says the report from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and the World Bank’s Program on Forests (PROFOR). Read more…

Congress Spotlight #64: Latest in forest science to be showcased in Brazil


Latest in forest science to be showcased in Brazil

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IUFRO Spotlight issues up to September 2019 will primarily focus on the XXV IUFRO World Congress that will take place on 29 September – 5 October 2019 in Curitiba, Brazil.

Individual Congress sessions will be highlighted in order to draw attention to the broader Congress themes, the wide variety of topics that will be addressed at the Congress and their importance on a regional and global scale.

Visit the Congress website at http://iufro2019.com/ or https://www.iufro.org/events/congresses/2019/.

For the first Spotlight in this series we have invited Dr. Jerry Vanclay, Chair of the IUFRO World Congress Scientific Committee, to offer a sneak peak of the attractive and comprehensive technical program and talk about his personal expectations of the Congress.

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Spotlight #63 – What’s in the future for Non-Timber Forest Products?

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The roots of many forest plants are harvested for their medicinal values. Changes in climate and lack of management may imperil their long-term sustainability and the people who depend on them. Photo credit: James Chamberlain, USDA Forest Service.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently published “…the most comprehensive assessment covering the production and management of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and resources – as well as the cultural, social, economic, and policy dynamics that affect them.” The assessment covers every state in the U.S.

But the findings can be utilized far beyond the U.S. borders. Read more…

Spotlight #59 – Shifting forest development discourses

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Conservation provides employment for local inhabitants at Dzanga Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic. ©Peter Prokosch, http://www.grida.no/resources/1516

Many centuries ago, a Greek philosopher noted that change is the only constant in life.

And change is brought about, in many instances, through discourse.

Discourse has been described in part as: “an ensemble of ideas, concepts and categories through which meaning is given to social and physical phenomena…”

According to this definition, discourse refers to a particular set of related ideas, which are shared, debated and communicated using different formats.

Through various discourses, we can discover fresh information and be introduced to new and different perspectives. We are able to gain experience and insight. As a result, our thinking, our attitudes, and our approaches toward various issues can evolve and change.

Certainly the ways in which forests are viewed, managed and developed have changed as the discourses concerning them have evolved. Read more…

On Forest Health

IUFRO All-Division 7 Meeting at the 125th Anniversary Congress
An Interview with Division 7 Coordinator Eckehard Brockerhoff of Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute)

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IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations