FTA @ XXV IUFRO
World Congress

Achieving REDD+: From local actions to national commitments

Considerable efforts have been made by developing countries to develop approaches that achieve emission reductions and access results-based finance at local, jurisdictional and national scale. This session will showcase pilot studies and research exploring approaches for achieving REDD+, and using results-based finance to incentivise these actions. Papers are invited that explore REDD+ actions, results-based finance or benefit sharing at project, jurisdictional or national level, from actions by local/traditional communities to regional or national policy and regulations, governance, including their impacts; with the aim of generating discussion of the challenges and potential solutions for linkage across these scales.

Improving forest management certification: integrating ecosystem services with forest assessments

Third-party forest management (FM) certification emerged as a tool for assessing and communicating the environmental and social performance of forest operations. 25 years later FM certification is mainstream, supported worldwide by major producers and buyers. Among driving forces for certification are corporate purchasing, green building schemes and “green consumer” demand, backed by social and environmental NGOs. On the one hand evidence for impacts of FM certification is increasingly needed given the growing demand for labelled products. Researchers from various disciplines look into the different aspects of certification, such as impacts on FM and timber markets; effects for forest workers and communities; quality of certification audits; governance and authority of certification schemes; and estimation of consumers’ willingness-to-pay price premiums for certified products. On the other hand, emerging markets for ecosystem services (ES) (carbon credits, water quality and quantity, wetland mitigation, species conservation etc.) presents new opportunities for forest landowners and managers, with increasing recognition of the importance of ES markets and their values. This session will discuss the impacts of sustainable FM, forest products and services through economic, environmental and social perspectives and will also consider challenges, needs and gaps analysis with regards to impact assessments and certification in general. The session will then assess some of these emerging ES markets including processes to increase forestland value.

Agroforestry for Ecosystem Services

Recent trends in the agriculture sector necessitate farm diversification as an essential strategy for economic competitiveness in a global market. Agroforestry systems offer great promise for the production of biomass for biofuel, specialty and organic crops, pasture-based dairy and beef, among others. Agroforestry also offers strategies for carbon sequestration, soil enrichment, biodiversity conservation, and air and water quality improvement for not only the landowners or farmers, but for society at large. Recent research findings of these ecosystem services provided by agroforestry will be shared in this technical session and follow up subplenary and poster sessions.

Tropical wetlands, climate, and land-use change: Challenges and opportunities

The goal of this session is to generate a science-policy dialogue and provide credible scientific information for sound decision making related to the role of tropical wetlands in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. This session will encompass biophysical, socio-economic and governance facets of wetlands for effective conservation and restoration.

Research on forests, trees and agroforestry: What’s next? Which priorities for the future?

FTA side event

Given the incredible amount of new findings presented by thousands of scientists from so many organizations from all over the world gathered in Curitiba (Brazil), What’s next for forestry?

The XXV IUFRO Congress brings together the latest from forest science. It is also inserted in a very dense international agenda: climate week NYC, COP25, heading to 2020 which will be a key year for the Rio Conventions, the start of a key decade for mankind and the planet.

FTA, the world’s largest R4D program in the area of forests, trees and agroforestry, would like to take this opportunity to exchange, with all interested scientists attending the conference, views and perspectives on what needs to be prioritized for future forest research.

The session is open to all interested parties.

Download flyer (PDF)

Social aspects of Forestry

Innovative utilisation of bamboo and rattan resources

Scientific research on the development of new processing and utilization technology for bamboo and rattan is being conducted increasingly all over the world to ensure the sustainable development of bamboo and rattan resources. The topics of this session will cover bamboo structural timber, bamboo fiber reinforced polymer composites, bamboo structure and properties, bamboo biomass energy, bamboo carbon and vinegar, bamboo preservation and rattan utilization.

Forest tenure, sustainability performance and innovative finance: Connecting the dots from a smallholder and governance perspective

World Bank side event

The event, co-organized by the World Bank, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF), will bring together researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the following topics:

1. Securing Forest Tenure Rights. Why is it relevant for rural development and how is the World Bank helping. Gerardo Segura Warnholtz, The World Bank Group.
2. Challenges to supporting forest livelihoods development after tenure reform. Peter Cronkleton, CIFOR.
3. Innovative finance and policy change in support of smallholders, biodiversity and SDGs. Dietmar Stoian, ICRAF.

Governing farm-forest interfaces: Lessons from practice and methodological advances to improve policy

In most countries farms and forests are governed by overlapping policy frameworks. The continuum from farm to forest is often overlooked as a result of the different aims, philosophies and disciplines that inform agricultural and forest policies. This session seeks to understand how and why multiple policy frameworks are often applied over a landscape, producing contradictions, confusion or gaps that affect local management decisions and behaviour, often in unintended ways. This session showcases evidence-based papers providing critical insights from Latin America, Asia and Africa into how this farm-forest interface is governed such that multi-use practices are accommodated, resulting in positive sustainable, people-centered outcomes. These papers introduce a range of methods to study the farm-forest interface, forest policy and governance that aim to strengthen qualitative and quantitative rigor of evidence. At the end of the session, we have time for a moderated discussion. Authors are invited to submit their paper to a special edition on the topic in the International Forestry Review.

Managing industrial plantation forests for multiple objectives

Fast-growing plantation forests are broadly defined as having average growth rates ranging from 10 to in excess of 40 m3/ha/yr, with shorter rotations from less than 6 years to around 35 or 40 years. Establishment of fast growing forests is one of the most effective ways to meet the growing demand for wood. Small in area, they are disproportionately significant for global timber supply. They can decrease the pressure to log natural forests and can help protect natural resources such as water, soil and biodiversity. They have the potential to improve the economic welfare of the communities in which they are sited. At the same time, intensively managed, industrial forest plantations of a single species on a short rotation arouse controversy as to their benefits for the community, the land and the environment. Social and environmental needs are increasingly influencing planning and management methods applied to plantations whose original prime objective was the profitable production of industrial wood. This session addresses the overall question of how to best sustainably manage fast growing, industrial plantation forests in a variety of geographic locations and settings, to enhance ecosystem resilience, and ensure that multiple objectives can be met concurrently.

The Bioeconomy and Non-Wood Forest Products

The bioeconomy is made up of those parts of the economy that use renewable terrestrial and aquatic biological resources, such as forests, fish, and wildlife, to produce food, building materials, energy, medicine, and other essential items. While nonwood forest products (NWFPs) are essential items in the bioeconomy, there are many gaps in our knowledge: what is the role of NWFPs in promoting larger-scale economic growth including through value addition? Can NWFPs support a transition to green growth? Are NWFP institutions and knowledge integrated into such transitions? To what degree do NWFPs promote sustainable resource use, generate employment, and contribute to poverty alleviation? Should bioeconomic interventions and policies focus on or avoid NWFPs? This collaborative session invites presentations that explore these questions, preferably through empirically-based data.

Plenary: Forests and forest products for a greener future

Sustainable biomass for a greener future

Highly productive management systems required for biomass production may have a strong impact on ecosystems. Consequently, sustainable, locally adapted best-practice management schemes are needed, and the development of forest biomass harvesting guidelines is a promising tool to ensure sustainable production. This session is open to contributions assessing aspects of woody biomass production at different scales (e.g. local-global, national forest inventories), dealing with potential consequences of land-use change on soils (e.g. nutrient depletion, acidification, carbon cycle), water (e.g. pollution, altering catchment water balances) and atmosphere (e.g. climate change mitigation potentials). Interdisciplinary and holistic approaches, as well as abstracts proposing alternative use of forest biomass (gasification, biomass-to-liquid, torrefacation, and pyrolysis) are welcome. We also encourage submission of contributions about policy development in context of sustainable biomass production (e.g. harvesting guidelines).

The role of forests and trees in the nature-based solutions discourse

Recent years have seen the worldwide adoption and rapid proliferation of the ‘nature-based solutions’ concept. This session takes a critical perspective on the current NBS discourse, and focuses on the role of trees, forests and forestry. How are these currently considered in NBS research, policies and implementation? What can be done to ensure that not only ‘high-tech’ and often expensive NBS are prioritised by funders and decision makers? What lessons have we learnt so far about the role of forests and forestry in addressing societal challenges, for example in urban areas? How can we enhance forestry’s role? What is the role of different actors, including IUFRO, in making this happen?The session will include an introductory talk from an expert on NBS & trees/green infrastructure, to set the scene. This will be followed by brief presentations on the mobilisation of forests and trees as NBS, for example from urban forestry, green infrastructure planning, and national environmental programs. Links between NBS and other central concepts, such as ecosystem services, green infrastructure, the green economy and ecosystem-based adaptation will be highlighted.

Political ecology and integrated landscape approaches: complementarity or unhappy marriage?

Integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) aim to holistically address threats related to forest degradation, loss of environmental services, food security, and climate change, embarking on negotiated outcomes of multi-stakeholder processes around common concern entry points. However, the politics of negotiated landscape governance still remain underexposed. This session aims to explore the interface between political ecology and ILAs both conceptually and empirically, addressing the question: how can political ecological insights into the politics and framing of human-nature interactions, diverging interests, power imbalances and inequalities in resource access and decision-making at landscape level be made functional to the operationalization of ILAs?

Plenary: Forests, soil and water interactions

Subplenary: Political ecology and integrated landscape approaches: complementarity or unhappy marriage?

Integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) aim to holistically address threats related to forest degradation, loss of environmental services, food security, and climate change, embarking on negotiated outcomes of multi-stakeholder processes around common concern entry points. However, the politics of negotiated landscape governance still remain underexposed. This session aims to explore the interface between political ecology and ILAs both conceptually and empirically, addressing the question: how can political ecological insights into the politics and framing of human-nature interactions, diverging interests, power imbalances and inequalities in resource access and decision-making at landscape level be made functional to the operationalization of ILAs?