[IUFRO Div 1] column pubished in "Le Monde" about tropical deforestation

A picture containing drawing Description automatically generated Dear IUFRO colleagues /This Newsletter includes two main items:/ -Division Coordinator and Board meetings. /Deadline for input: 8 September 2020./ -Call for input to best practice guidelines for organizing, hosting and reporting of IUFRO online events. /Deadline for input: 26 August 2020./ *Division Coordinator and Enlarged Board meetings* -On 28 May 2020 the Division Coordinators and Division Deputy Coordinators convened in a Zoom meeting to discuss current affairs and to begin planning for the next Board meeting. The Covid-19 situation and the postponement of essentially all ‘classical’ IUFRO events for an unforeseeable time was a prominent item on the agenda. As part of the meeting we also briefly discussed a guideline drafted by IUFRO on best practices for /participation/ in virtual meetings. - On 9 September 2020 Division Coordinators and Division Deputy Coordinators will convene again in a Zoom meeting to prepare for the online Board meeting scheduled for 10-11 September. -The Board meeting in spring 2020 was postponed to 10-11 September 2020 and will be conducted as an online Zoom meeting for the Enlarged Board (including, for example, Division Deputy Coordinators). In addition to being a ‘normal’ Board meeting with relevant business issues, strategic as well as operational, on the agenda, the meeting serves to introduce new Board members, Division and Task Force Coordinators and Deputy Coordinators to IUFRO’s general policies and mode of operation. Reporting from the Divisions and discussion of future activities are significant components of the programme. For your information, I enclose the report from Division 1. Please alert me to any items or suggestions you wish me to bring forward at the DC or at the EB meeting. I need your input no later than 8 September, but the sooner the better. *Call for input to best practice guidelines for organizing, hosting and reporting of IUFRO online events* Essentially all our IUFRO activities for 2020 have been postponed and some have even been cancelled. There is a risk that the dynamic networking of IUFRO will approach a temporary standstill. Instead, we should use this opportunity to pioneer the new tools that are now bringing the world together and which have already revolutionized our way of working and communicating. Some of the new tools, for example Zoom, seem to offer even more interactive and participatory opportunities than the telephone, the e-mail, video and other ‘old-fashioned’ online meeting facilities. Teresa Fonseca and I are currently working to draft best practice guidelines for organizing, hosting and reporting IUFRO online events. This effort can only be done effectively with broad participation and inclusion of knowledge and experience of officeholders across all IUFRO units. There are already many general guidelines available, so we clearly want to focus on the special situation in IUFRO. Some of you may already have experience, others may have interesting or useful ideas. Our objective is to draft a set of recommendations that can be discussed by the Division Coordinators and, possibly, the Enlarged Board or the Management Committee at their meetings in September. Please send your comments, ideas and suggestions directly to Division 1 Deputy Coordinator Teresa Fonseca at tfonseca(a)utad.pt <mailto:tfonseca@utad.pt> no later than 26 August 2020. Teresa and I will then compile and edit a first draft for further discussion. We look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes, JP --- När du skickar e-post till SLU så innebär detta att SLU behandlar dina personuppgifter. För att läsa mer om hur detta går till, klicka här <https://www.slu.se/om-slu/kontakta-slu/personuppgifter/> E-mailing SLU will result in SLU processing your personal data. For more information on how this is done, click here <https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/contact-slu/personal-data/>