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.

Vom 12.–14.03.2025 richten die Forstlichen Versuchs- und Forschungseinrichtungen des deutschsprachigen Raumes eine wissenschaftliche Tagung zur Kohlenstoffbindung in Waldökosystemen und Holzprodukten in Göttingen aus. Fragestellungen sind: Wie ist der Wissensstand, wo liegen die Grenzen und Möglichkeiten für den Klimaschutz?

Die Tagung fokussiert sich auf den derzeitigen Wissensstand hinsichtlich der Kohlenstoffdynamik in den Kompartimenten lebende Biomasse, Totholz, Boden und Holzprodukten europäischer Waldökosysteme und der entsprechenden Einflussfaktoren. Dazu zählen insbesondere der klimatische Wandel, Stoffeinträge, die Art der Bewirtschaftungsform sowie die Art und Weise der Holzverwendung. Neben neuen Erkenntnissen sind auch innovative Methoden und Ansätze zur Messung und Modellierung des Kohlenstoffkreislaufs von Wäldern von Interesse. Ferner sollen Zielkonflikte, Grenzen und Möglichkeiten des Klimaschutzes durch Waldökosysteme und die Forst- und Holzwirtschaft beleuchtet werden.

The Agroforestry Innovation and Climate Entrepreneurship (AFICE) Summit serves as a premium platform for individuals passionate about agroforestry and climate entrepreneurship. This event will bring together extraordinary minds and luminaries within the field to engage in thought-provoking discourse and valuable networking opportunities. This cutting-edge Summit fosters knowledge exchange, innovation, and collaboration among attendees, inspiring them to push the boundaries of agroforestry and climate entrepreneurship—a transformative pathway in sustainable agricultural and forestry practices.

The event encapsulates visionary keynotes, enlightening panel discussions and insightful case studies focused on bolstering holistic development within this agroforestry and climate spaces. With its avant-garde approach, the Agroforestry Innovation and Climate Entrepreneurship (AFICE) Summit attracts forward-thinking professionals and enthusiasts alike. Gaining tremendous traction locally and internationally, this Summit intends to create ripples of actionable change, inviting self-styled custodians of the earth's future to devise and discuss sustainable solutions to ecological and social challenges. Attendees will, undoubtedly, come away motivated to revolutionize agricultural and forestry systems and make significant strides towards combating climate change. Unleashing avenues for growth and exchange of groundbreaking ideas, this Summit is a magnet for proactive minds intrigued by the vast possibilities agroforestry and climate entrepreneurship present.