Read the latest issue of IUFRO-Japan News and learn more about the IUFRO World Congress to be held on 23-29 June 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden, IUFRO Research Group 3.08.00 and many other interesting things.

Building on the recommendations of the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability, the International Science Council (ISC) is pleased to announce the launch of a Global Call to co-design and embark on Pilot Science Missions for Sustainability. With this call, ISC invites novel collaborative consortia of scientists and scientific organizations, policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, communities, and the private sector, working on the cutting edge of identifying solutions for complex sustainability challenges, to co-design science missions for sustainability over an initial 18-month period.

The call is open to bids for pilot missions worldwide, while pilots led by institutions located in the Global South are strongly encouraged to apply.

The preliminary program for the IUFRO World Congress is now available online! Find out which sessions will take place where and what else is happening at the Congress! Do not miss the opening ceremony with HM The King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf! If you are specifically interested in the Congress theme "Forests for sustainable societies", listen to the latest episode of IUFRO's Branching out: the forest podcast with Congress keynote speaker Harini Nagendra among the guests.

Submissions are invited for a Special Issue of 'Forest Policy and Economics'.

Forests are the focus of attention for multiple stakeholders with differing demands. Forest policy research points out that communication is crucial for effective stakeholder and conflict management. However, most research done so far in forestry-related science misses to point out which aspects make communication better and more effective. This Special Issue will draw upon scientific, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, combining perspectives from social science, interpersonal communication, public relations, linguistics and media analysis with existing forest policy research. The combined findings will provide a differentiated picture of the "how", "what" and "to which effect" of public communication on forest issues in Germany.

Forest Research (FR) is a leading UK scientific research organisation that provides impactful scientific data, evidence and advice to policymakers and practitioners. The post-holder will be responsible for leading and developing the Tree and Wood Properties research programme. They will provide strategic direction and line management to the programme team and co-ordinate research to meet priorities identified in the Science and Innovation Strategy for Forestry in Great Britain. They will also develop their own areas of research on wood properties and will support the incorporation of information on wood properties into existing work on climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience. The successful applicant will also be expected to identify and pursue opportunities for further development of the research programme, through external funding and collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

The international conference "The Forest factor" was held in Rome, Italy, on 6 and 7 June 2023, at the Roma Tre University, with the aim of placing the emphasis on the protection of forests, as an essential element in the fight against climate change, and on their vital importance for biodiversity, the carbon, water and energy cycles on a planetary scale.

An intensive one-day networking event featuring forward-looking keynotes, high-impact pitches of innovative solutions, and networking opportunities awaits you. The Bioeconomy Innovation Day 2024 will be held on 5 June 2024 in Lemgo, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The event will bring together forest innovators and leaders from industry, government, research, and other critical stakeholders in the forest bioeconomy. Register for the event today and stay tuned for more updates.

The webinar will feature presentations from four speakers, providing a broad territorial and sectoral perspective on the topic and aiming to gain insights into how we can synergistically address wildfire risk reduction and nature conservation challenges. Sebastian Kirppu from Protect the Forest in Sweden will commence with a case example from Northern Europe, illustrating how wildfire risk management and nature conservation can be interconnected. Following him, Antonio López from the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge will delve into the topic of wildfires in Natura 2000 sites. Next, Roman Berčák from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague will discuss the challenges of multi-risk forest management in the context of nature conservation and wildfires, using the case of the Saxonian and Czech fires of 2022. Concluding the presentations, Adrián Tišťan will offer a vision from DG Environment in the European Commission. The webinar will be closed with a panel discussion among the speakers and the opportunity for questions by the public. The webinar will be moderated jointly by Alexander Held from the European Forest Institute and Julia Haas from Forest Europe.

FORWARDS will launch around five grant calls with a total value of EUR 6 million to fund 50 projects to set up the ForestWard Observatory. In the first round of grant calls to be launched in July, five projects will be funded for establishing new Climate-Smart forestry and forest restoration trials. Each project will be granted with up to EUR 150,000. Successful applications will result in projects that are expected to commence around the beginning of 2024, with a duration of maximum 18 months. Subsequently during the year and until the project end, FORWARDS will launch many more calls to fund projects across different themes.

In case if you are an organisation working in Climate-Smart Forestry, watch out for the launch at the end of July. The call will be published on EFI’s grants webpage.

Nominations are invited from members of the public for the 8th MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity.

Co-organized by AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Prize is awarded to individuals who make outstanding contributions to global biodiversity-related objectives, including the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and other environmental issues such as climate change.

The 2024 edition will acknowledge contributions to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, also known as the Biodiversity Plan, and it’s four overarching goals to protect and restore nature, to prosper with nature, to share benefits fairly, and to invest and collaborate for nature. Agreed in a landmark decision of CBD COP 15 in December 2022, the Biodiversity Plan is the world’s masterplan to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.

Established by AEON Environmental Foundation during the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, the Prize has been awarded to biodiversity champions in several fields, including policymaking, science and civil society, reflecting the need for a whole-of-society endeavor—a seminal principle that underpinned the design of the Biodiversity Plan and its 23 targets (to be achieved by 2023). Up to now, 19 individuals from 17 countries have received the prize.