Activities and events

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOREST RELATED TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE

Seoul, Republic of Korea
5 to 9 October 2008

Organized by:
The Conference is organized jointly by Korea Forest Research Institute, Seoul National University, the Society for Forest and Culture with sponsor of United Nations University and IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge.

Objectives of the conference:
The conference will bring together international experts in forestry, cultural history, ethno-botany, traditional knowledge, landscape planning, and agriculture. The conference participants will mainly come from, but not necessarily limited to, northeast Asia. The conference is to provide opportunities for scientists and specialists to exchange and share each country’s ideas and traditional practices and tries to find common practices applicable to modern forested landscape management.

First Announcement and Call for Papers
Early registration form and abstract sample

Deadlines:
Submission of abstracts: 15 July 2008

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRADITIONAL FOREST-RELATED KNOWLEDGE AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA

Accra Ghana
13-16 October 2008

Organized by:
The Forestry Commission, CSIR and the University of Ghana in association with the IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge and IUFRO’s Special Programme for Developing Countries,  with support from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. The conference will be hosted by  Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Objectives of the Conference:
The conference will provide a platform for sharing of information and exchanging experiences among scientists, the holders and users of traditional forest-related knowledge, forest managers and other relevant stakeholders related to traditional forest-related knowledge in Africa. The conference will also highlight the importance of TFK towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable forest management. It should also encourage further development on incorporating TFRK in models of sustainable practices.

>> First Announcement and Call for Papers

Deadlines:
Submissions of abstracts:    June 30, 2008
Notification of acceptance:    July 31, 2008
Submission of extended abstracts of accepted papers
and posters for conference proceedings:  September 20th, 2008.

Further information:
Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, otengyeboah(at)yahoo.co.uk
Dr. John Parrotta, jparrotta(at)fs.fed.us

Sustainable Forest Management and Poverty Alleviation: Roles of Traditional Forest-related Knowledge

17-20 December 2007, Kunming, China

Click here to view the powerpoint presentations of the Kunming meeting

The conference was organized by the IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Seoul National University (SNU), and the Asia Pacific Association of Forestry Research Institutions (APAFRI); as well as other member institutions in the Asia Pacific region, and other related regional and international agencies.  The conference was hosted by Sustainable Forest Research Centre of Chinese Academy of Forestry.

Conference Overview

The Asia Pacific region has one of the world’s highest diversity of ethnicities, languages and cultures. The region has also two of the ancient civilizations, India and China, both with recorded histories that date back many thousands of years. The region is the home of very rich ancient wisdom that had been passed down through the generations. A major portion of this is directly or indirectly linked to its vast stretches of forests, which have been the lifeline for the millions of people living in and around them. Although most of these age-old techniques and practices had been deemed outdated and no longer relevant to present day forestry, increasingly they are being re-discovered and explored for solving current problems. In the process, issues such as equitable benefits sharing and intellectual property rights have surfaced.

The conference will gather stakeholders and interested parties to share and exchange information and experiences related to the various aspects of traditional forest-related knowledge (TFRK) in the Asia Pacific region. It will also highlight the importance of TFRK towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable forest management, and encourage further development on incorporating TFRK in models of sustainable practices. The conference will cover the following topics:

• Economic, ecological and cultural dimensions of TFRK in Asia and the Pacific
• Facing globalization: Issues of  intellectual property rights and equitable sharing of benefits
• Conservation and utilization of TFRK for achieving sustainable livelihoods of local communities
• Joint initiatives and utilization of traditional and modern scientific knowledge in forest management activities
• Development of good practices incorporating both traditional knowledge and modern sciences in forestry education, research and forest management activities
• Forestry policies recognizing the role of TFRK in achieving SFM and MDGs
  

Archive of Documents provided:

First Announcement and Call for Papers – 2nd Annoucement – Registration Form.

More information can be found soon on the Conference Website at www.apafri.org/

Contact persons:

Dr. John Parrotta (IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge)- jparrotta(at)fs.fed.us
Dr. Liu Jinlong (Chinese Academy of Forestry) – liujl(at)caf.ac.cn
Dr. Sim Heok-Choh (APAFRI) – simhc(at)frim.gov.my

SHARING INDIGENOUS WISDOM: AN INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2007
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
11-15 June 2007

Organized by: IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge, the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation, U.S. Forest Service.

Traditional wisdom and its associated knowledge about forests and other ecosystems are keys to the development of sustainable natural resource policies and practices.  This conference, the 2nd in a series of regional meetings of the IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge, was held to foster dialogue on traditional indigenous knowledge and how this is being incorporated into models and practices for sustainable development. Presentations and discussions were structured around the Menominee model of sustainable development that conceptualizes sustainable development as the process of maintaining balance and reconciling inherent tensions between the various dimensions of sustainability, i.e., land & sovereignty; economics; technology & science; institutions; human perception, activity & behavior; and natural environment. It explored how this and other successful models of sustainability allow for the preservation of indigenous lands, sovereignty and culture while providing for integrated economic development, institutional capacity building and technological advancement. Topics and issues closely related to the central aims of the IUFRO Task Force included:
   

• The history of the relationship of formal forest science and traditional wisdom and knowledge in forest management;
• Application of traditional knowledge in forest ecosystem assessments and management;
• Indigenous community priorities for forest research and collaborative forest management in support of community development goals;
• Evaluations of case studies on joint initiatives and utilization of traditional and formal scientific knowledge in forest management activities;
• Development of good practices for including both traditional knowledge and formal science in forestry education, research and forest management activities.

The meeting attracted over 100 participants from 12 countries, including indigenous people from Latin America, the Asia and Pacific region, Africa, Indian Tribes in the U.S., and First Nations in Canada. It also included numerous forest scientists, educators, students, forest managers and planners. The conference provided a forum for indigenous peoples’ voices on traditional wisdom, knowledge and values, problem-solving and research in support of sustainable indigenous communities. Among the recurring themes throughout the conference was a shared understanding of the critical importance of respect for the wisdom of elders and the the link they represent between past and present generations, and a general, although certainly not universal, appreciation that collaboration between indigenous peoples and mainstream society is critical for future generations and preservation of the environment.

The meeting organizers are grateful for the support provided by the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service and the warm hospitality extended to all conference participants by the Menominee and Oneida people. 

The proceedings of the conference will be published in early 2008 by the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation in collaboration with the IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge and the U.S. Forest Service. More information, including presentations, can be found on the conference website – http://www.sharingindigenouswisdom.org/.

ABOUT THE USE OF FOREST TREES – EXTRAORDINARY RENEWABLE RAW MATERIALS

Baden, Lower Austria, Austria: 14-17 September 2006

Symposium organized by: IUFRO Research Group 6.07.00 – Forest and Woodland History & IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge

There is growing awareness from the part of international forest science and policy as regards the significance and relevance of local and indigenous knowledge about forests and traditional possibilities of utilisation, as well as the need to take account of this knowledge in the development of political strategies which aim at sustainable forest management. The protection, documentation, and utilisation of forest-related, tradition-based knowledge is in the focus of numerous political discussions held within national, regional and international organisations and forums.

The development of a society practicing sustainable management is one of the great challenges with which industrial nations are faced at the beginning of the 21st century. One of the hopes of the “sustainable economyâ€? is the material wood, which has numerous well-known positive characteristics, is renewable without limitation and available in large quantities, moreover CO2-neutral, biodegradable and water vapour permeable, has an optimum relation of load-carrying capacity to its own weight and other particular characteristics. Apart from the traditional areas of utilisation, wood has enormous, not yet exhausted potentials which might open up new possibilities of use. From its structure, wood is characterised by an irregular chemical composition and, in essence, consists of approximately 40 to 50% cellulose, 20 – 30% lignin, and 15 to 20% hemicellulose. Other wood composites occurring in traces include resins, waxes, terpenes, phenols, tannins, colouring matters, fats, sugar, protein, and minerals. 

For several years research in the field of wood chemistry has met with growing interest and sustainable industrial solutions have been developed on the basis of wood, a raw material which is rich in tradition and trend-setting. Cellulose is not only used as a starting material for paper, cellulose and various textiles, but can also serve as a basis for areas which are presently still dependent on crude oil. Other potential projects for the future are for example the utilisation of so far unused barks or the possibilities of use of other wood components. Parts of them have already been used in the past, among them the wood extracts wood oil, turpentine and tar as traditional natural wood preservatives or resin, which, among other things, served for disinfection and preservation, or as sealing material in shipbuilding. Turpentine oil and colophony, the two main products from resin, enjoy great appreciation even today, as turpentine oil provides the basic material for colours and varnishes, wood and leather conditioners. Colophony was, and still is, indispensable for any violinist and was – and still is – useful in the production of soap and oleo-resinous varnish, of printer’s black and common black pitch.

The meeting “About the Use of Forest Trees – Sustainable Raw Materials Standing out from the Ordinaryâ€?, which was held from 14 – 17 September at Baden, Lower Austria, was jointly organised by the Ministry of Life, the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Austria, the Working Group “Forest Historyâ€? of the Austrian Forest Association (Österreichischer Forstverein), LAND&FORST Betriebe Österreich, IUFRO Research Unit 6.07.00 Forest and Woodland History, and the Departments of Material Sciences and Process Engineering, as well as of Forest and Soil Sciences of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. The purpose of the meeting was to draw the attention of a large number of participants to the fact that – in addition to wood – one can derive a wide variety of products from forest trees, with many traditional processing techniques being known only in rare cases in the practice and having fallen into oblivion to a wide extent.  The organisers of the event aimed at drawing the attention to the fact that also today active substances for pharmaceutical products and cosmetic products are obtained from forest trees, but that – off the ordinary – also new fields of use and products can be created. Some of these products which were for a long time mostly in a discrediting manner referred to as “by-productsâ€?, for example tree saps, which are interesting for pharmacy, food technology or the chemical industry, were discussed during the meeting. It aimed at providing information about the state-of-the-art and the technology and to furnish ideas on how new products could be created based on the historical use of wood, not least in order to strengthen the economy (and forestry) in the region and to give it new impetuses. The organisers of the event see the meeting also as a way of implementing the IUFRO Task Force “Traditional forest related knowledge“. This world-wide research project aims at bridging the gap between forest science and the traditional forest-related knowledge and its application in the practice. It takes efforts towards a comprehensive understanding between the two areas and tries to clarify which political and social framework conditions are necessary to promote a fruitful cooperation between science, practical life and politics in order to ensure sustainable forest management also in the future. 

The region in which this meeting took place is today one of the sluggishly developed areas, but was highly industrialised in the past (iron industry, household industry, the craft of pitch production from Austrian black pine, called “Pecherei�). It is located in a natural black-pine area, where the share of black pines has been raised since the 16th century, primarily to improve the quality of life of the local, often needy population (with respect to climate, soil and economy) and to ensure people a sufficient income thanks to the promotion of resin utilisation. Today the approximately 80,000 hectares large area between Mödling and the Schneeberg is one of the largest closed natural black pine areas in the whole world. Numerous publications point out the important role of resin utilisation and processing in this region which was practiced from the 18th century to about 1970 and from that time largely disappeared, as the products manufactured began to be replaced by oil derivates. In the course of the past decades utilisation has decreased dramatically; at present, only one pitch-boiling plant still exists at Hernstein, which still employs 7 pitch-makers. However, due to the rising prices of fossil raw materials resin is becoming more interesting again as a renewable resource.

The event was with over 60 participants well attended, participants coming from most different fields: from research, authorities and the economy (forest and production), industry, forest-related extension services, but included also representatives of public relations in the forest sector, teachers, biologists and other interested groups of the population like the resin makers themselves, were in the audience. In this way one of the declared goals of the organisers has been achieved, namely to conduct the discussion on as broad a basis as possible and on an interdisciplinary basis and to let representatives of forestry (forest enterprises, practitioners, authorities) as well as producers and scientists get a word. The contribution of science, in particular of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, was directed towards new products, of which resin is but one. Many of these products are obtained anyway in the chemical decomposition of wood (cellulose industry) and could be better used in the future (in former days they went to the waste water, nowadays they are in most cases incinerated). It is encouraging that today large amounts of research funds are devoted to biomass; it is regrettable, however, that still much too little is invested into the development of these alternative products.

The objective of organising this meeting was to promote the interdisciplinary networking of scientific research and application, the communication among stakeholders, and the establishment of networks. This objective faced participants with a challenge, namely to go into and engage in terminologies and disciplines outside one’s own specialty. The speakers came from the fields of research, authority, economy (forest and production), industry, forest-related extension services. What was remarkable was that all speakers tried hard to present their special subjects in a comprehensible way, which all of them did very well.

The contributions comprised the fields of food-pharmacy (wood extracts in foods, wood composites and possible uses, medicine from the forest), old and new products of the chemical industry (cellulose and lignin, high-tech materials from renewable resources, utilisations of Austrian black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold), oil from Austrian black pine and resin from European larch, as well as colophony), they informed about the most recent research projects on resin and the sustainable use and production of other raw materials obtained from plants in the future. The look into the history of international resin production at its prime and in recent times in Germany led up to the present role which resin utilisation is still playing in the region. The two-day event was supplemented by an excursion which showed, on the one hand, the traditional (still practiced) utilisation of resin at Hernstein and, on the other hand, the development of large-scale industry (away from resin) with possible partial utilisation of the traditional raw material for specific areas. The opportunities and limits of a sustainable forest management with a small-scale ownership structure under the given economic framework conditions were further priorities of the excursion. Cultural highlights of the event were the presentation of the book “Die Schwarzföhre in Österreich� (editor: Herbert Kohlross), which was attended by about 250 persons, and a reading and chamber music “Über’s Pech im Piestingtal� organised by the market town of Piesting at the end of the excursion day, which met with enthusiasm both of the local population and of the excursion participants.

Which conclusions can be drawn from this event?

For practical life: Information about new trends in the research field of wood and its components

For science: Finding of partners in the implementation of certain partial projects

For the region (politically, socio-economically):
• Social regeneration of the still existing structure
• Driving forces for the future use and utilisation of the products
• Strengthening of the tradition
• Raising the awareness for the culture which is connected with the traditional craft: (1)Songs, poems, way of life, living together in the village, adaptation to sustainable use of the resources (e.g. minimum girth of the trees from which resin is obtained); (2) Products: Resin: Export of colophony world-wide
• Reference to the multifarious possibilities of using the wood of Austrian black pine (floors in continuation of the floors so far produced for stages (Vienna State Opera), panels and wainscots, furniture, etc.

For forestry:
• Ideas with a view to sustainable forest management (establishment of forest management communities for joint forest tending, utilisation and marketing of the wood of Austrian black pines) with the technical extension service of the District Chamber of Agriculture
• Production of alternative products by launching forestry and cultural initiatives (traditional use in connection with tourism) (Pecherhof Hernstein).

This meeting was on the one hand a historico-cultural initiative taken in order to avoid that the meanwhile rare craft of the pitch maker and the traditional ways of resin utilisation, which are of cultural and historical interest, fall into oblivion. On the other hand, it was intended to enhance the economic activities of the local population that are linked to sustainable forest management by reminding a broad range of the population of the old tradition beyond regional borders and drawing the attention to already existing tourist activities connected with this traditional utilisation in Greater Vienna (walkways providing information about the pitch-maker’s craft, or excursions demonstrating resin production). This may open up new markets (organic products in skin care, oils, home remedies which are made from pine resin and can be successfully used against various injuries to health). For already Greeks and Romans were familiar with the effect of tree resins against inflammations of the muscles and joints.

That the networking of forest and timber science with traditional forestry raises, or can raise, great interest is evident from the fact that numerous high-ranking opinion-leaders, like the Deputy Head of Department at the Ministry of Life, Dr. Schima, the IUFRO Executive Secretary Dr. Mayer and, as representative of the Chamber of Agriculture, the member of the Provincial Chamber of Agriculture, Ehrenhofer, were present. Although some 70 years ago 150 times the amount of resin was produced than is extracted today, resin production is for many reasons still of high importance. The Pecherhof Hernstein is meanwhile one of the few enterprises in Central Europe still obtaining and processing resin and thereby helps to maintain this old utilisation technology. Economic utilisation aside, it thereby makes a valuable historico-cultural contribution, namely to keep a craft with hundreds of years of tradition from finally dying out. Yet not only to look to history is interesting and of importance in this context. Recent scientific works deal for example with the “Utilisation of renewable resources� (2000) or “Folk medicine and modern physiotherapy� (2005). Corresponding to the trend of our time not only cosmetic products and essential oils, of which high-quality products are processed in as unadulterated a way as possible from natural raw materials (pine and larch resin), could experience a renaissance, but also other parts of trees, like cellulose, could form the basis for areas which presently still largely depend on crude oil. Wood composites hold a huge, in many respects still unused potential; for example, they can provide the basis for packaging materials, foils, paints, and many more. There appear to be hardly any limits set to the potential uses of wood and its composites; resin is only one important part of them, others are still the subject of timber research. However, this could also be a valuable contribution to the maintenance of the cultivated landscape outside the city of Vienna to which black pine gives a special southern charm.

Elisabeth Johann
Austrian Forest Association
Working Group Forest History
IUFRO 6.07.00 Forest and woodland history (Deputy)
elisabet.johann(at)aon.at

CULTURAL HERITAGE AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT: THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Italian Academy of Forestry Science, Firenze, Italy
8-10 June 2006

Organized by: IUFRO Research Group 6.07.00 – Forest History, IUFRO Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge

Traditional forest knowledge and innovative forest management practices developed by rural communities over the centuries have contributed significantly to the world's natural and cultural heritage, not only by creating and maintaining landscapes of outstanding beauty, but also by helping to sustain production of multiple goods and services that enhance livelihood security and quality of life. The theme of the conference reflected the significant overlap of interests between the holders and users of traditional forest knowledge and a number of policy and planning issues and initiatives within the European Union, the broader European region, and the global forest policy community. These relate to:

• increasing recognition of the importance of traditional forest management practices in maintaining cultural landscapes;
• development and refinement of social/cultural criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management;
• the increased recognition of the contributions of traditional forest knowledge to sustainable forest management reflected in recent deliberations of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); and,
• ongoing activities of numerous intergovernmental organizations, regional bodies, individual governments, communities, research organizations and NGOs worldwide focused on the protection and development of traditional ecological knowledge and its application to sustainable natural resource management.
  

The meeting attracted 120 participants from 24 countries, including forest scientists, forest managers and planners, forest policy experts, and representatives from a variety of international organizations and forest policy bodies, including representatives from the UNFF, FAO, UNCCD, UNESCO, the Council of Europe’s European Landscape Convention, and the MCPFE Liaison Unit.

During the technical sessions a total of 66 papers and 15 posters were presented and discussed, covering a range of topics relevant to the conference theme and the global priority topics of the IUFRO Task Force, with an emphasis on forest history and the relationship between traditional knowledge and formal forest science in the creation and maintenance of cultural forest landscapes.

The conference represented  a further step in the implementation of the Vienna declaration n.3 of the MCPFE concerning “Preserving and enhancing the cultural dimension of sustainable forest management in Europeâ€?, aiming to develop specific indicators concerning cultural values  to improve the existing set of criteria for Sustainable Forest Management enhanced by MCPFE.  In this respect the collaboration established among the Research Group on Forest History, the Task Force on Traditional Forest Knowledge and the MCPFE is a very important achievement.

The meeting organizers are grateful for the support provided by the Italian Academy of Forestry Science, the University of Florence, the USDA Forest Service and the Liaison Unit of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE), as well as for the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forest Policies, the Regional Government of Tuscany, UNESCO, and the European Society for Environmental History.

The proceedings of the conference will be published in October 2006 by the Liaison Unit of the MCPFE in Warsaw, Poland.