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.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems, and restore them to achieve global goals. Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity. The UN Decade runs from 2021 through 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future. That will include building political momentum for restoration as well as thousands of initiatives on the ground. Through communications, events and a dedicated web platform, the UN Decade will provide a hub for everyone interested in restoration to find projects, partners, funding and the knowledge they need to make their restoration efforts a success.

New policy paper published by WoodPoP; new webinar on forest management and climate change hosted by TEAMING UP 4 FORESTS; new series of IUFRO Podcast on IUFRO Divisions. More…

The Department of Forestry and Division of Public Health at Michigan State University invite applications for a 9-month tenure-system position (open rank) in Forest and Green Space for Improving Public Health (40% research, 25% teaching, 25% Extension/Outreach, 10% service). The successful candidate is expected to develop an internationally recognized research program by securing competitive external funding, publishing in leading peer-reviewed journals, and advancing our understanding of the green space-health relationship. This understanding could be attained through a wide range of expertise, including wellbeing, physical and mental health of urban populations, informatics, evaluation, community engagement, urban forestry, environmental justice and equity, wood design and wood product effects on health, health geography, urban planning, and other forest/health linkages (e.g., health effects of forest wildfires).

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.

Tropical forests are an important regulator of global climate, a natural carbon sink, and a repository of terrestrial biomass and diversity. Tropical forests are also home and provide livelihoods to millions of people living within or around them. Despite their tremendous social, economic, and ecological value, tropical forests remain under threat. From 1990 to 2020, 90% of the 420 million hectares of deforested land was in tropical regions.

The major causes of deforestation have shifted over time. Increasing local populations and small-scale agriculture drove forest loss in the 1980s and 1990s, whereas large-scale agriculture, plantations, and ranching are now the primary drivers of deforestation. The remaining tracts and fragments of forest are increasingly vulnerable to other factors, including further development and road construction, wildfires, poachers, illegal logging and mining, climate change, as well as new pathogens and invasive species. Many of these factors act synergistically to further degrade forest structure and function.

Due to the critical role of tropical forests in global socio-economic-ecological systems and the threats they are facing across the world, two of the most important international negotiations are taking place in the tropics in the 2024-2025 biennial: the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, and the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. While these negotiations are driving developments in environmental governance at the global scale, emerging movements in landscape and jurisdictional approaches and rights-based approaches to land management are reshaping forest governance at subnational scales.

For more than 30 years, the Yale Chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) Conference has promoted a space for exchange amongst world-class scientists, policy makers, and other practitioners. The ISTF 2025 Conference seeks to explore how research and policy discourses on forest governance at multiple geographic scales are treating and impacting tropical forests.

Join the 2025 Summer School on Ambrosia Symbiosis!

The Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont (UVM) currently seeks exceptional PhD applicants to join the university to conduct interdisciplinary research on global environmental challenges beginning in the fall 2025 semester. Applications are due January 5, 2025.

Driven by the belief that research should inspire action, we explore environmental issues at the interface of five pressing research themes—climate solutions, health and well-being, sustainable agriculture, resilient communities, and equity and justice—in partnership with government, industry, and broader society.

Students will receive up to four years of funding, including an annual stipend of $35,000, plus tuition. All students are eligible for health insurance and additional funds for conference travel and research costs.