International IUFRO Conference "Forest Governance, Policy, Economics, and beyond"

This international scientific, English language conference will serve as a global forum for the latest research in forest-related social sciences, extending to broader environmental contexts. It will spotlight innovative research in the broad field of forest governance, policies, and economics across disciplines such as political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, human geography, development studies, environmental history, legal studies, and livelihoods analyses. Open to all Research Groups and Working Parties in IUFRO Division 9, Division 9 related Task Forces and Special Programs and Projects, the conference will include a special focus on the importance of forests for meeting the Global Environmental Crisis, Sustainable Development Goals, and International environmental agreements.

The conference will include four scientific plenaries, ten sessions, posters and one day field trip, as well as a conference dinner. Thematic areas include (but are not limited to):

• Forest Governance through Policy (international, national, and local scales)
• Urban Forests and Garden Mega-cities
• Nature Conservation Policy
• AI and Digital Technology, Information and Communication
• Forest Sector Innovation
• Forest-related Indigenous Knowledge and local knowledge
• Forestry Economics and Management
• Environmental Policy and Economics related to Forests
• Integrated Forest Management
• Forest Law and Legislation
• Green Job and Forest-based Community Livelihoods
• Forest History

Call for Session Proposals
The Organizing Committee herewith invites session proposals from established and emerging researchers from around the globe. From the best and most mature sessions and individual papers, we intend to edit a number of special issues in the journal "Forest Policy and Economics" (Elsevier), "Forests, Trees and Livelihoods", and "Forest and Society" (UNHAS Indonesia).

Pre-conference "Autumn School" Training Camp
Before the conference, the organizers will conduct an "autumn school" training camp  for PhD candidates and other early-career researchers such as Postdocs. The number of participants will be limited to 30, including 10 from China. A separate call will follow.

The tentative proposed instructors (t.b.c.) include Prof. Bas Arts and Prof. Georg Winkel from Wageningen University and Research, Prof. Liu Jinlong from Renmin University of China, Prof. Max Krott from Göttingen University, Prof. Lukas Giessen from TU Dresden.

Timelines and key dates

• Call for session proposals: January 1 - January 31, 2025
• Notification of session acceptance: before February 28, 2025
• Call for paper abstracts (to be announced): March 1 - April 15, 2025
• Notification of paper acceptance: before April 30, 2025
• Submission of draft working papers to session organizers: September 1 – 15, 2025
• Pre-conference training camp: October 5 – 7, 2025
• Conference: October 9 – 11, 2025