Summary by Gerald Steindlegger, Meeting Moderator

The IUFRO-Mondi Partnership held its 2nd Think Tank Meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 3 November 2022. Twenty-five participants representing science, forest industry and policy makers participated in the meeting to address the question:  "What are appropriate response measures to address future and diverse demands on forests?"

IUFRO's Dr. Michael Kleine introduced the discussion by reflecting on "Future diverse demands for goods and services from forests", summarizing key challenges and key findings as identified at the 1st Think Tank Meeting - https://www.iufro.org/discover/iufro-partners/mondi/#c34511 - and the 1st Stakeholder Dialogue - https://www.iufro.org/discover/iufro-partners/mondi/#c33817.

Science has a major role to play in embracing the complexity of the challenge of meeting future and diverse demands on forests. This includes the development of management strategies in the local context and the communication of the latest evidence and data for diverse audiences.

As an example of scientific work, Michael Kleine finished his presentation by introducing a scientific study to be managed by the Partnership. This study aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of existing scientific and technical information on the future supply of goods and services from European forests. For the identification of response options for policy makers, the private sector and other stakeholders, factors of biological production as well as a range of relevant policy-related and socio-economic factors will be considered.

KEY MESSAGES FROM THE MEETING

POLICY

• needs to cope with conflicting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenges and balance diverse stakeholder demands on forests;
• should address trade-offs and improve coherence between different policies, goals and instruments affecting forests at the EU level, such as those related to climate change, biodiversity, and the bioeconomy/circular economy;
• should increasingly use scientific evidence as a basis for more effective policy interventions;
• should provide incentives to further motivate forest owners to actively manage their forest for the provision of ecosystem services.

FOREST MANAGEMENT

• is increasingly challenged to meet diverse societal demands on forests while their ecosystems are significantly impacted by climate change;
• needs an increased focus on alternative species and innovative silvicultural management systems to cope with climate change;
• technical support of forest owners can increase credibility by better demonstrating its critical role in ecosystem management.

INDUSTRY

• is challenged by an insecure future supply of wood, policy developments, geo-political framework conditions, together increasing complexity and uncertainties for longer-term strategic planning and investments – will the EU wood processing sector be competitive internationally?
• needs to enhance preparedness (i.e., flexibility and innovation) in order to cope with anticipated changes in wood supply and the socio-economic environment (i.e., through adapting products and manufacturing processes to alternative tree species);
• can raise credibility on sectoral contributions to global challenges (i.e., SDGs and other climate change mitigation schemes) through science- based communication.

SCIENCE

• needs to intensify evidence-based advisory services to forest management, policy, industry and stakeholders at the local, regional and national levels;
• should inform all stakeholders on how specific response options (i.e., increasing bio-energy production from forests) impact on other sectors. Trade-offs and synergies need to be better understood;
• should provide evidenced-based information on forests and products related to the carbon cycle (i.e., when are forests turning from a carbon sink into a carbon source?);
• can contribute to awareness raising on multifunctional forestry through intensified science-policy and science-society interactions, particularly on mechanisms for sustaining and enhancing ecosystem services.

Read the unabridged summary at:  https://www.iufro.org/discover/iufro-partners/mondi/#c35085
Watch a short video about the 2nd Think Tank Meeting:  https://youtu.be/tvlFLUBqwMU
Find out more about the IUFRO-Mondi Partnership "Teaming up for Forests" at:  https://www.iufro.org/discover/iufro-partners/mondi/

TF Coordinator:  Jeremy Allison, CFS, Coordinator of IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-7/70000/70300/70316/

There are numerous new and emerging technologies that allow for novel opportunities and greater precision in forest pest management. These include genomic and chemical analyses, data collection through smart technologies, sensing technologies for surveillance and integration, analysis and sharing of data across fields. These technologies allow for the development of much more accurate tools for pest management than has ever before been possible and have led to the emergence of an approach defined as Precision Pest Management (PPM).

This Task Force will explore and develop the concept of PPM across the continuum of forest ecosystems (e.g., natural, planted, urban forests). In addition, capacity in PPM varies geographically and within regions among groups. The Task Force will serve as a platform to:  i) attempt to mitigate variation in capacity by connecting researchers and practitioners working on pest management in forest ecosystems; ii) identify barriers to inclusivity in PPM; and iii) mentor early career researchers, providing them with opportunities to develop skills, networks and to engage with IUFRO.

The Task Force will also collaborate with WP 7.03.15, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-7/70000/70300/70315/, and the CFS Policy Integration Branch to identify social, behavioral and cultural barriers to the development and implementation of PPM and to consider steps to mitigate these barriers. A complementary objective of these interactions with WP 7.03.15 and the CFS Policy Integration Branch will be to explore how social dimensions influence exchange between operational stakeholders, policy makers and researchers.

Find out more at:  https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/precision-pest-management/

The Ethiopian Forestry Development (EFD) and IUFRO led a forest landscape restoration (FLR) workshop in Adama, Ethiopia on 28-30 November 2022.

Ethiopia is Africa's second-most populated nation, and its economy is based on agriculture, mainly by smallholder farms. As a result, agriculture puts pressure on land and natural resources, which has led to deforestation, soil erosion and land degradation.

The Ethiopian government and many communities have invested substantial efforts into restoring degraded landscapes. In fact, the country's Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy included forest landscape restoration as a key element. Ethiopia made one of the largest global pledges for restoration under the New York Declaration on Forestshttps://forestdeclaration.org/ and the Bonn Challenge  https://www.bonnchallenge.org/ 22 million hectares.

The workshop considered the local context and existing experiences in the country. The aim was to strengthen the capacities of FLR facilitators across relevant stakeholder organizations including government forest organizations, agricultural extension offices, academia, research organizations as well as NGOs.

Read more:  https://www.iufro.org/science/special/spdc/netw/flr/ks-ws/eth/

Report by Dikshya Devkota, GFEP Project Manager, https://www.iufro.org/science/gfep/

Following two years of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, member states and key stakeholders finally convened in Montreal, Canada, on 7-19 December 2022, to review the achievement and delivery of the CBD's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 – 2020 and adopt the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This newly agreed framework provides a strategic vision and guidelines for the conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of global biodiversity for the next decade.

The importance of robust scientific evidence and information has been widely recognized in the background and several targets of the new Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework:
https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/e6d3/cd1d/daf663719a03902a9b116c34/cop-15-l-25-en.pdf

Likewise, the importance of sustainable management of forests and other ecosystems, and the sustainable use of biodiversity, to maintain nature's contribution to people have been explicitly mentioned in Target 10 of the framework.

IUFRO's delegation at CBD COP-15 comprised Christoph Wildburger, GFEP Programme Coordinator and Dikshya Devkota, GFEP Project Manager (see photo). Along with representing the forest science community in the meeting, IUFRO confirmed its intent to continue providing scientific knowledge on key forest-related issues to CBD's member states and key stakeholders via two written statements.

Likewise, Dikshya Devkota shared background information and preliminary findings of the upcoming GFEP assessment on Forests and Human Health at "Workshop on Health, Climate and Biodiversity:  Mainstreaming biodiversity and climate solutions for sustainable and healthy food systems". The workshop, organized by WHO on the margins of CBD COP-15, provided a forum for government representatives and experts to discuss, promote and strengthen the mainstreaming of biodiversity-health interlinkages into environmental and public health initiatives. Learn more at:  https://www.iufro.org/science/gfep/gfep-initiative/panel-on-forests-and-human-health/

Save the date:  21 March 2023, 15:00 CET (Vienna, Austria), International Day of Forests
Online launch of the GFEP Assessment on Forests and Human Health
https://www.iufro.org/science/gfep/gfep-initiative/panel-on-forests-and-human-health/outreach-and-media/

Report by Abdullah E. Akay, Deputy Coordinator, IUFRO Research Group 3.01.00 Harvesting and transportation engineering, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-3/30000/30100/

In recent years natural disasters caused by abiotic factors have resulted in serious biological and ecological damage of forest ecosystems while threatening human life. The most impactful natural disasters include forest fires, winter storms, floods, landslides, and avalanches, among others.

The 3rd International Symposium of Forest Engineering and Technologies (FETEC 2022):  "Forest Transportation Solutions and IT Applications for Natural Disaster Management" was organized on 28-29 November 2022 by the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos) in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan as a hybrid symposium. The aim of the symposium was to discuss the most recent scientific research and professional work related to forest transportation solutions and IT applications for natural disaster management. 

A total of 140 researchers, practitioners and stakeholders from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Italy, USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, and Kazakhstan attended the symposium, which involved IUFRO RG 3.01.00.

In order to minimize the detrimental effects of natural disasters, advanced information technologies (ITs) such as GIS, RS, ICT, IoT, etc. should be used in planning and implementing of natural disaster management activities. Besides, forest roads, providing important benefits of accessing forest areas, should be designed and constructed considering the natural disasters.

Find the symposium proceedings at the meeting website:  http://www.ormantransportu.org/FETEC2022

Report by Dmitry Shchepashchenko, Coordinator of IUFRO Working Party 8.01.06, Boreal and Alpine Forest Ecosystems, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-8/80000/80100/80106/

Webinar on 7 December 2022:  ibfra.org/videos/
Hosted by:  International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) ibfra.org
Supported by:  International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) iiasa.ac.at

This was the first webinar in a set of IBFRA Pre Conference Webinars, covering different research topics related to Boreal forests until the IBFRA Conference in August 2023:  http://ibfra.org/ibfra-conferences-events/

Major datasets related to forest biomass were presented and recent advances in forest biomass remote sensing were discussed, including challenges and uncertainties.

Dmitry Shchepashchenko (IIASA, Austria) gave a presentation titled "Forest biomass remote sensing and mapping". A review of recent freely available global datasets on forest extent, forest biomass and canopy height were presented.

Validation and calibration of remote sensing products require ground measurements (e.g., Forest Observation System network) and interpretation of very high-resolution imagery (e.g., Geo-Wiki.org platform). This webinar presented forest management intensity datasets at global scale (Lesiv et al., 2022), an estimation of growing stock volumes for Russia (Shchepashchenko et al., 2021), and areas of global significance for conservation (Jung et al., 2021).

Maurizio Santoro (Gamma Remote Sensing AG, Switzerland) talked about "Strengths and limitations of boreal forest biomass maps derived from Radar satellite observations".

He presented a review of satellite instruments available for forest biomass observation with the focus on radar instruments and discussed several map products of forest biomass derived from radar data for the boreal zone. High-resolution maps (<100 m) provide a detailed view of the biomass spatial distribution but cannot currently provide a reliable estimate of biomass dynamics unless the supporting satellite missions are operational.

Report by Sandra Rodríguez, Coordinator of Joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forest Education, https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/forest-education/

The online workshop in Spanish titled "Introducción a los métodos de investigación social y su aplicación en las ciencias forestales" on November 28 and 29 and December 1 attracted 180 participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. The workshop organized by the Joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forest Education was supported by Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Reforestamos México, and WRI.

Four regional assessments of forest education were conducted in Latin America over the last decades (1969, 2007, 2014, and 2021). The last three assessments have identified that the inclusion of socio-economic aspects of forests into the curriculum of Latin American forest programs is scant (Rodriguez-Piñeros, 2021). As a result, foresters face many challenges when working with the social actors that frame sustainable forest management, in particular those who are closest to the forest (farmers, indigenous and groups of African descent).

It is well-known that forests can largely contribute to ameliorating rural poverty in Latin America. Consequently, the involvement of local communities in forest planning and management is crucial. In this sense, forest professionals need to understand basic concepts of social science that help them to better understand the relationship between humans and the forests and thus contribute to creating better-informed policies and enhancing forest governance.
 
Participants were satisfied with the workshop and there was a notable demand for more workshops that include social research methods. During the workshop participants acknowledge the need for the tools presented to be applied in their working life. 73% of participants stated to be forestry professionals who worked in the field with communities, the rest are forestry and forestry-related professionals who are conducting postgraduate programs.

Future activities will include the preparation of the same workshop in English and also to continue with Spanish workshops with more detailed information on the application of the methods.

Report by Bianca N.I. Eskelson, Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group 4.01.00 Forest Mensuration and Modelling, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-4/40000/40100/

This webinar on 28 November was part of the 2022 webinar series "Forest Mensuration and Modelling Chats" hosted by Research Group 4.01.00. It attracted participants from Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Canada, Norway, DR Congo, China-Taipei, Kenya, Indonesia, Austria and India. The webinar series highlights forest mensuration and modelling research across a variety of research areas and allow for scientific exchange across the globe.

Dr. Tzeng Yih Lam, Associate Professor in the School of Forestry and Resource Conservation at National Taiwan University talked about concept and field application of Critical Height Sampling. Dr. Lam presented the theoretical basis of estimating stand volume with Critical Height Sampling from the perspective of continuous population sampling. Stand volume estimates and precisions were compared between Critical Height Sampling, Antithetic Importance Critical Height Sampling, and Horizontal Point Sampling with a set of field plots established in Cryptomeria japonica and Taiwania cryptomerioides plantations in China-Taipei.

For recordings and information about past and future webinars, please visit:
https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-4/40000/40100/

Report by Md Sarwar Jahan, Deputy Coordinator of IUFRO Working Party 5.07.03 - Pulp and paper, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/50700/50703/

The 2022 Congress of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) was held from 1-3 December at BCSIR premises in Dhaka, Bangladesh, under the theme of "Integrated Approach for Adapting 4IR" (4IR - Fourth Industrial Revolution). The conference with plenary sessions, keynotes, invited lectures, oral presentations, and poster presentations brought together more than 700 participants on-site and about 10 participants online, representing 10 countries from different parts of the world. In the opening ceremony, the presence of the honorable minister of the ministry of Science and Technology, People's Republic of Bangladesh, symbolized the importance of the conference.

The Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and IUFRO Working Party 5.07.03 organized back-to-back three sessions on Agriculture and Forests and four sessions on Polymer and Bio-refinery. The session titled Agriculture and Forest focused on pest and climate change resilient varieties of agriculture, usage of biofertilizer, and innovative technology for plantation forestry to increase forest coverage in Bangladesh. And the session titled Polymer and Bio-refinery covered the utilization of plant biomasses for biofuel, biochemical, biomaterials as well as various products to replace fossil-based materials and chemicals.

Report abridged by the editor - click here for the full report: 
https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/50700/50703/activities/

Report by the IEFC Communication Officer, https://www.iefc.net/

On 25 November 60 participants attended the webinar organized by the IUFRO Task Force Resilient Planted Forests Serving Society & Bioeconomy https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/resilient-planted-forests/ and hosted by the European Institute Of Planted Forest (IEFC).

This webinar of "Let's Talk About Planted Forests" addressed the subject of clearcutting and its impact on plantations following the collective "CREFF Expertise" www.iefc.net/event/seminaire-de-restitution-pour-lexpertise-crref/, which has been led by the GIP Ecofor and the RMT Aforce since March 2021 with the aim to draw up the state-of-knowledge on clearcutting and forest stand renewal, and an analysis of renewal methods in a climate change context.

The event offered an opportunity to invite three experts to share their views and exchange with the participants. Hervé Jactel presented the results of a meta-analysis about clearcutting impact on biodiversity.

Webinar replay (login required):  https://www.iefc.net/?page_id=8115

Report by Yafang Yin, Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group 5.16.00 Wood identification, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/51600/

The 2022 International Youth Forum for Wood Anatomy and the 9th IAWA – China Group Annual Meeting were held online on December 10-11 from Guangzhou, China, and involved IUFRO RG 5.16.00 and RG 5.06.00 Properties and utilization of plantation wood, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/50600/. They were hosted by the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA) and the South China Agricultural University (SCAU), with support from the International Academy of Wood Sciences (IAWS) and the International Wood Culture Association (IWCS).

Meeting website:  http://iawa-website.org/en/Meeting/Future_Meetings/article_204.shtml

The overall theme was "Wood Anatomy and Wood Utilization – Future for Ecozoic Era and Community". The Coordinator of the IUFRO Forest Products Division Dr. Pekka Saranpää delivered opening remarks.
The China Group Annual Meeting saw the largest group of participants in the history of the IAWA-China Group. More than 360 people from 88 organizations attended the conference. Professor Biao Pan delivered a keynote lecture entitled "Progress of Wood Anatomy Research in China". Professor Yongdong Wang gave a keynote lecture entitled "Mesozoic climate perturbations and paleo-CO2 variations:  evidence from fossil plants of China", and Professor Jin Sun delivered a keynote lecture entitled "Utilization of biomass resources in Guangdong".

The 2022 International Youth Forum for Wood Anatomy attracted over 200 participants from more than 20 countries. Professor Steven Jansen from Ulm University presented a keynote lecture entitled "The significance of porous media and polar lipids for fluid transport in angiosperm xylem". The 2022 Forum established the Sherwin Carlquist Award, elected by the International Scientific Advisory Committee, and the first prize was awarded to Kamil Frankiewics and his topic of "Raylessness:  from Carlquist's paedomorphosis to metacambial syndrome", from the University of Cape Town and the Compton Herbarium of National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa.

In 2023, the 10th Annual Meeting of IAWA-China will be held in Nanjing, China, co-hosted by Nanjing Forestry University and Nanjing Forest Police College.

Find out more at:  http://iawa-website.org/en/News/article_219.shtml  
Report abridged by the editor - click here for the full report:
https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/50600/activities/

On 1 December 2022, ca. 50 high-level experts from 17 European countries and 16 national and European stakeholder organizations met in Innsbruck, Austria, to attend the first meeting of the newly established European Wood Policy Platform "woodPoP".

The platform results from an initiative of Finland and Austria and shall serve to promote the wood-based policy dialogue. Renowned experts from politics, administration, business and research discussed current and future challenges of material and energetic wood use and provided impetus for innovative cross-sectoral developments in the sense of the bioeconomy and the circular economy. IUFRO's Executive Director Alexander Buck had been invited to moderate this high-level discussion.

Read more (in German) at:
https://info.bml.gv.at/themen/wald/eu-international/woodpop-gipfeltreffen-in-innsbruck.html
Also learn more about the Austrian Wood Initiative (in German) at:  https://info.bml.gv.at/themen/wald/waldfonds/oesterreichische-holzinitiative.html

Report provided by Juliet Achieng

The current global youth (15-24 years) population stands at 1.2 billion translating to 16% of the global population and is expected to rise further by 7% by 2030 https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/youth. The youth have immense potential and can provide innovative solutions to promote development. The need for equipping the youth with knowledge and opportunities that will allow them to thrive and showcase their abilities has been highlighted numerous times.

An example of a youth led initiative and first of its kind is the YFPD on 1-3 December 2022, a conference-like online event organized by youth for youth to enable the youth community to exchange knowledge and gain more insights about international forest policies. The three-day online event employed diverse formats such as workshops, plenary and parallel sessions and role play game. A living library session focusing on working life provided an opportunity for the participants to be inspired to take action by stories from fellow youth and other professionals in the sector. Through the networking session, the participants had the chance to meet and exchange ideas and experiences with the professionals and participants.

The YFPD was organized by FOREST EUROPE's https://foresteurope.org/ workstream on Forest Education and Green Jobs and the Rapid Response Mechanism in collaboration with the International Forestry Students Association (IFSA https://ifsa.net/). The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and Global Landscapes Forum (GLF https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/) partnered in organizing the event.

The YFPD taskforce had the following members:  Silvia Abruscato, Vera Steinberg and Juliet Achieng from the Forest Europe Secretariat, and Johanna Klapper, Polina Blinova, Nicolas Domke Venegas, Alina Lehikoinen, Simone Massaro, Erica Di Girolami and Elif Duman from IFSA.

The workshop topics were selected from a series of consultation meetings with IFSA members. The students reported that they had insufficient skills in public speaking, event organization such as conferences, and digitalization in the forest sector but they considered them as important for the success of their careers. During the conference day, well-known forest policy experts expounded on how forest policy works and provided real world examples from Africa, Europe and Latin America.

Crucial topics in forestry such as Sustainable Forest Management, halting deforestation and restoration were discussed and the contribution of forest finance to their success was highlighted. The Youth Call to Action and Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education are youth led initiatives presented at the event which highlighted the youth's contribution to international forest policies. In the climate negotiation the participants acted as representatives of governments, business and civil society and had to establish a concrete plan to limit global warming to below 20C.

A clear take home message from the event was: 
"The forest sector needs to leave the silos and be open to establishing transparent dialogues about youth inclusion because the youth are the energy and passion in the room."
Silvia Abruscato, Forest Europe Secretariat

The recordings are available on the event webpage:  https://ifsa.net/yfpd
For more information contact:  silvia.abruscato(at)foresteurope.org; juliet.achieng(at)efi.int

Article by Purabi Bose, Senior Lecturer at SLU, Coordinator of IUFRO Division 6 Social Aspects of Forests and Forestry, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-6/60000/

At the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) internationalization is gaining momentum, and the Faculty of Forest Sciences is at the forefront, empowering the Global North-South's roots. Challenging it may sound, but the faculty is building grounds to illustrate how it works.

A new international course, Global Forests and Land-use Decisions (GFLuD), for the MSc Euroforester program, has kick-started in Alnarp. The 30-course participants from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Nepal, the Netherlands, and many other countries, including Sweden, are interacting with world-renowned experts, change-makers, practitioners, and communicators of forest policy and land-use decisions. Using 'real' case studies, participants are unraveling concepts and ethics of international frameworks and implementation at the community level in diverse forested landscapes. Importantly, they are connecting the dots on the consequences of how deforestation-free policy and land use change in one hemisphere impacts the others.

Continue at:  https://internt.slu.se/en/news-originals/2022/12/forest-roots-for-globla-north-south-bridge/

The project Fem4Forest "Forests in Women's Hands" started in July 2020 and involves 14 partners from 10 countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine). The project is funded in the framework of the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme. The leading partner is the Slovenian Forestry Institute, a Member Organization of IUFRO, and the project leader is Dr. Nike Krajnc. Visit:  https://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/fem4forest

The main objective of Fem4Forest is to strengthen the forest sector at local, regional and interregional level through increased involvement and ability of female actors by supporting their equal presence and competences at the market in the Danube region. The project offers a new and innovative approach to education and mentoring that will enable a more active role for women in the forestry sector.

Find out more at:  https://forstfrauen.at/en/fem4forest-en

Article provided by Maria Nijnik and Mariana Melnykovych, IUFRO Working Party 4.05.05 - Social innovation and entrepreneurship, https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-4/40000/40500/40505/

In 2023, Ukrainian and international forest science commemorate the 100th heavenly birthday of Professor Dr. Science (habil.) Stepan Gensiruk (Hensiruk) - an outstanding academic from whom many generations of forest scientists and foresters have learned a lot.

As Head of Department at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Prof. Gensiruk rose to the defense of Ukraine's forests, which remained over-exploited until the mid-1970s. He contributed to saving unique forest ecosystems, including the primeval beech forests in the Carpathians. Prof. Stepan Gensiruk was the first scientist from the former Soviet bloc to be awarded in 2000 with the Scientific Achievement Award of IUFRO, and a IUFRO Golden Medal.

Click to read the full article:  https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-4/40000/40500/40505/publications/

In December 2022, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu announced the appointment of a new director of the FAO Forestry Division. Zhimin Wu, from the People's Republic of China has an extensive background in the forestry sector, with 38 years' experience in national and international forestry roles. Prior to his appointment at FAO, Mr. Wu served as Director-General of the Wetland Management Department of China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) since 2019, while also Director-General of the Ramsar Administrative Authority in Beijing.

Read on at:  https://www.fao.org/forestry/news/100366/en/

Last year the University of Helsinki conferred its most prestigious degree, a jubilee doctor's degree, on former IUFRO President Professor Risto Seppälä. He had already received a master's and doctor's degrees in statistics, and an honorary doctor's degree in forestry earlier. This conferment tradition was born in Bologna and Paris in the 13th century, and the first conferment of the University of Helsinki took place in 1643. Now the conferment is arranged every five years.