Dear friends and colleagues,

Cancellation of IUFRO All Division 7 Conference – “Global Change and Forest Health” in Istanbul from 25-29 April 2016

This is addressed to all those who planned to attend the Division 7 conference in Istanbul next month. Given the recent terrorist attacks in Ankara and Istanbul, the threat of more attacks, and several governments now advising caution regarding visits to sites of interest and the use of public transport, the conference organising committee has decided to cancel (or postpone) the conference.

We have been planning this event for about five years, and a huge amount of work has gone into its preparation by Yusuf Serengil and his colleagues, the local organisers, as well as the scientific committee. We are very sad that it has come to this, but under the circumstances we feel it is no longer possible to provide the conference delegates with a worry-free event.

We were hoping that the situation in Turkey would improve or at least that Istanbul remained free of terrorist activities; however, the opposite occurred.

Many of you will already have made travel arrangements, and we appreciate that it is inconvenient to cancel at this stage. Yusuf Serengil and the University of Istanbul have agreed to reimburse the registration fee (less bank charges). Travel agents, airlines and hotels may waive or reduce cancellations fees if you point out the threat of terrorist attacks and government travel advisories. Unfortunately, the conference organisers or IUFRO cannot assist with this.

It is too late to change the venue to another location, while maintaining the dates. However, the Division 7 coordinators will discuss the options for a future Division 7 conference, and we will advise you about this in the coming months. In the meantime there will be other conferences and meetings of Division 7 working groups later this year, including our contribution to the IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania in Beijing in October. We look forward to seeing you at another event this year or in the near future.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

Best regards,

Eckehard (“Ecki”) Brockerhoff

Coordinator, IUFRO Division 7, Forest Health

On behalf of the Conference Committee

Yusuf Serengil

Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University - Turkey

Coordinator IUFRO Working Party WP 7.01.08

Local Organizer, Conference Scientific and Organizing Committees

serengil@istanbul.edu.tr, yserengil@yahoo.com

Eckehard Brockerhoff

Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute) and