Spotlight #59 – Shifting forest development discourses
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…
The power of science to halt deforestation
NOTE: This text is reblogged from a blog coauthored by Vincent Gitz (FTA) and IUFRO Vice-President John Parrotta about Session 16 on “The Role of Science and Research” at the Halting Deforestation conference: http://foreststreesagroforestry.org/the-power-of-science-to-halt-deforestation/
**********************************************
A coffee plantation is pictured on a hillside in Lampung, Indonesia. Photo by U. Ifansasti/CIFOR
Science and research can offer significant contributions to halting deforestation and increasing the area of healthy forests around the world in a sustainable manner.
With halting and reversing deforestation seen as key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the objectives of the Paris agreement on climate change, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests organized from Feb. 20-22 the conference “Working across sectors to halt deforestation and increase forest area” in Rome, to discuss ways of meeting these targets in the coming years with various actors and stakeholders. Read more…
FTA and IUFRO highlight cooperation at Global Landscapes Forum
NOTE: This text is reblogged from a blog coauthored by Vincent Gitz (FTA) and Alexander Buck (IUFRO) about the Rainfall Recycling as a Landscape Function: Connecting SDGs 6, 13 and 15 discussion forum at GLF2017: http://foreststreesagroforestry.org/fta-and-iufro-highlight-cooperation-at-global-landscapes-forum/
**********************************************
Clouds pass over homes on the banks of the Belayan River in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Nanang Sujana/CIFOR
The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) are strengthening their collaboration to increase understanding and promote the role and value of forests and trees in landscapes.
At the recent Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) in Germany, FTA, IUFRO and the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI) organized a Discussion Forum titled Rainfall Recycling as a Landscape Function: Connecting SDGs 6, 13 and 15. Read more…
Forest restoration means more than planting trees
INTERVIEW with keynote speaker Dr. Robin Chazdon,
University of Connecticut, USA
Keynote Plenary Session 2
Friday, 22 September, 10:30 – 12:00
Rolf Böhme Saal (Konzerthaus Freiburg)
“Restoration Forestry: Challenges and Opportunities for Foresters, Forests, and Landscapes”
IUFRO Spotlight #45 – If you’re ‘remotely’ interested in monitoring biodiversity…
Eds: GOFC-GOLD & GEO BON. Report version UNCBD COP-13, GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Project Office, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
ISSN: 2542-6729
There is a growing need for better information on how remote sensing data can support biodiversity monitoring in tropical forests. In response to this need a new sourcebook has been published with the aim of informing national and sub-national policy and decisions.
More than 70 authors, several of them from the IUFRO community, contributed to the sourcebook that is targeted at project managers, academic institutions, NGOs, students and researchers, among others, with a background in remote sensing. Read more…
IUFROAO2016 – The Beijing Declaration
IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016
24 – 27 October 2016, Beijing, China
Forests for Sustainable Development: The Role of Research
The Beijing Declaration
IUFRO Vice-President John Parrotta presenting the Beijing Declaration. Photo: Gerda Wolfrum, IUFRO Headquarters
Fighting Wildlife Crime by Fighting Illegal Timber Trade
Rapid Response to Illegal Timber Trade – Global Assessment Under Way
The theme of this year’s World Environment Day (WED), celebrated on 5 June 2016, is: “The Illegal Trade in Wildlife”. As timber and timber products fall into this very category, this is bringing a hot topic of forestry into the limelight: illegal timber logging. While there is plenty of scientific literature on this subject, a systematic assessment and synthesis has so far been lacking. Now the Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP), an initiative in the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) under the coordination of IUFRO, is tackling this task in a Rapid Response Assessment on Illegal Timber Trade.
Spotlight #32 – Sharing Knowledge to Rebuild Tropical Forests and Landscapes
Sharing Knowledge to Rebuild Tropical Forests and Landscapes
Tropical forests contain a huge amount of biological diversity, play a key role in human health, offer a vast array of ecosystem services and have become central to global debates on climate change.
But extensive deforestation and degradation are causing a significant decline in the biological diversity and the ecosystem goods and services provided by them. And, in many African countries there is a notable connection between degradation and the inability of decision makers – and the larger society – to access existing scientific knowledge and innovations that could help reverse the impacts of forest degradation. Read more…
Enhancing forest-related development: Community and smallholder forestry in the nexus of markets, policy, and implementation
Traditional landscapes (FAO Photo ref FO-0072)
Forests hold the potential to contribute to sustainable local development in many regions of the world. For this potential to be realized, rural dwellers need to have access to healthy forests, need to be linked to markets, and hold capacities to actively engage in forest product value chains. This requires an enabling legal environment and supportive policies. For the last two decades, considerable efforts and investment have been devoted to improve these enabling conditions in many locations and at different scales. Even so, in many places in the world where a forestry development potential may exist, deforestation and forest degradation, unfavourable legal environments and policies and competition with better endowed or politically well-connected entrepreneurs prevail. Read more…
Congress Spotlight #26: To manage forests sustainably – think synergy
To manage forests sustainably – think synergy
A comprehensive study of the conditions that assist sustainable forest development will be published at the upcoming IUFRO World Congress this fall in Salt Lake City, USA.
The title of the publication, produced by the IUFRO Special Project on World Forests, Society and Environment (IUFRO-WFSE), is Forests Under Pressure – Local Responses to Global Issues.