April 2010

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(Vienna, 26 April 2010) - Committing finances to something as long-term as forest monitoring can be unsettling for politicians. Their careers hinge on regular elections - at short-term intervals.

Putting money into monitoring "makes good sense… But we need to show them that it makes sense," said Konstantin von Teuffel, of the Forest Research Institute in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. "If, for example, politicians are to decide on subsidy programs, or decide on legislation or policies on climate change, they need to know what state the forests are in. And they need to know based on sound scientific measurements taken over a reasonably lengthy period of time, not assumptions."

Dr. von Teuffel will coordinate a session linking long-term scientific forest monitoring to political decision-making at the 2010 IUFRO World Congress in Seoul.

He plans to build on information gathered in Buenos Aires at the World Forestry Congress last fall, where politicians and decision-makers involved in forest issues were asked about their expectations in regard to monitoring activities. "That input will be presented to the scientists in Seoul and we will discuss how best to respond to the policy makers' needs," he said. "We must show that monitoring is connected to real world decisions."

He sees his session helping to increase awareness of the importance of long-term monitoring - the challenges, opportunities and priorities. It will bring together people from all continents and, he anticipates, result in a catalogue of guidelines that will allow researchers to group and prioritize forest-monitoring needs and also outline some best practices.


MEDIA CONTACTS

Konstantin von Teuffel: +49 761-4018100 or konstantin.teuffel(at)forst.bwl.de
Gerda Wolfrum: +43 1 877 0151 17 or wolfrum(at)iufro.org


RELATED LINKS

1. XXIII IUFRO World Congress  
http://www.iufro2010.com/


MATERIALS

1.    Illustrations


The Poiana forests in the Prahova Valley, Poiana Brasov, Romania.
Photo taken by Tarun Bathija


Picture of the Paracou forests from the carbon flux monitoring tower, French Guiana.
Photo taken by Laurène Feintrenie (IRD/CIFOR)


2.    Press Release

English (pdf)  -  Español (pdf)  -  Français (pdf)  -  Deutsch (pdf)


View previous stories related to the IUFRO World Congress 2010
http://www.iufro.org/media/iwc2010-news-stories/