In case you are planning to participate in the XXVI IUFRO World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden in 23-29 June 2024, please consider whether you would like to contribute to the session “Never waste pandemics: lessons learned from past forest disease outbreaks”.

The session includes 15-minute talks plus questions and posters; submissions are still open at: https://iufro2024.com/call-for-congress-abstract.

Abstracts will be accepted until 2 June 2023.

Never waste pandemics: lessons learned from past forest disease outbreaks

Disturbances, whether abiotic or biotic in nature, are integral and necessary components of forest ecosystems. However, anthropogenic pressures and climate changes have contributed to the erosion of forest ecosystem resilience, frequently to a degree that the tipping point has been breached, this causing devastating consequences across landscapes, countries and even continents. With globalization and changes in climate patterns, both natural and planted forests are at risk from invasive exotic pathogens, which are exacerbated by extended drought cycles, extreme precipitation events and air pollution. As an example, owing to the scale of pandemic destruction, Ash dieback, Dutch Elm Disease, Chestnut Blight, along with White Pine Blister Rust, are, so far, among the most catastrophic biotic disturbances in forest. The list of devastating disturbances is long and novel drivers will keep arising in the globalized world due to ongoing climate warming. Experience so far tells that it is less costly to conserve nature than it is to restore it, so it is imperative we learn from experience to protect forests now.

Our future relies on maintaining the ecosystem services provided by forest. The ongoing transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a biobased economy is driven by the need to combat climate change, to protect the environment and to increase sustainability. This means we aim to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. When governmental roadmaps towards more carbon-neutral economies are drafted, the focus, concerning forests, is often only on the increase of forested area and management practices that facilitate forest growth. The underlying assumption is that forests are healthy and in different phases of growth, a demography that allows the balancing needed between carbon sequestration and a continuous flow of the biogenic material needed. However, pest and pathogen outbreaks, as history has shown, can severely disrupt our ambitions.

In this session, we welcome presentations that address how the underlying ecological, societal as well as institutional and political drivers have contributed to the rise and scale of specific disturbances. We hope to highlight assessments of currently implemented strategies considering the lessons learned from past pandemic crises. Similarly, we hope to outline management and policy options that are not yet in force or which have not yet attained that are not yet in place or not yet as but that would be needed to successfully prevent and/or to circumvent future pandemic crises.

Keywords: Biotic, Climate Change, Disturbances, Resilience, Socio-ecology

ORGANIZERS:

Dr. Ari M. Hietala, Department of Fungal Plant Pathology in Forestry, Agriculture, and Horticulture, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Innocamp Steinkjer, Steinkjer, Norway. - ari.hietala@nibio.no

Dr. Nicola La Porta, IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, Edmund Mach Foundation, Trento, Italy. - The EFI Project Centre on Mountain Forests (MOUNTFOR), Trento, Italy. - nicola.laporta@fmach.it

Kind regards,

Nicola La Porta and Ari Hietala