Hello all Mark your calendars! I would like to encourage you to submit an abstract to the minisymposium at the national congress in Stockholm, 2024 entitled, “*Resilience of Forest Biodiversity to Climate Change and Pests: Civic Engagement and Conservation in Seed Banks, Public Gardens, and Wild, Urban, and Agroforestry Landscapes*” This has been organized by myself, Jill Wagner, Sean Hoban, Lara Salido and Denita Hadziabdic. Below follows a link to the meeting and submission details and description, followed by a message from Brigitte Burger with detail on the congress, etc. but I have copied the important dates and links here for your convenience: Abstracts will be accepted until *2 June 2023*. Authors will be informed if their presentation is accepted by *30 October 2023*. In order to remain in the programme, the registration deadline for *Presenting Authors* of accepted abstracts is *15 January 2024*. https://iufro2024.com/iufro-world-congress-2024/aim-and-scope/ https://iufro2024.com/call-for-congress-abstract *Mini-Symposium: Resilience of Forest Biodiversity to Climate Change and Pests: Civic Engagement and Conservation in Seed Banks, Public Gardens, and Wild, Urban, and Agroforestry Landscapes* *To conserve biodiversity, multiple approaches can be taken on the ground. This mini-symposium (Panel, Flash-talks & Posters) represents experts who focus on complementary aspects of conservation and reforestation; threat assessment, seed collecting and banking from wild trees, collective action and civic engagement, the roles of public gardens in conserving genetic resources, developing genetic resistance to pests to conserve biodiversity, and the importance of conserving genetic diversity in the face of pests and climate change.* *Seed is the unit by which biodiversity is propagated, and therefore, protected. There is ever increasing pollination disruption with shifting local climate conditions and more fragmented and degraded native ecosystems. As forests and genetic diversity are lost, so are mother trees for seed collection, in a time when people want to greatly scale reforestation efforts. In addition to potential declines in seed crops, global trade, biodiversity loss, and fragmentation increase the threat of emergent insect and pathogen outbreaks, resulting in local or range-wide extinction of iconic tree species. Therefore, there is a global need for threat assessments, seed collection and banking of native tree species.* *In the context of the above challenges and solutions, public gardens and arboreta are critical to the resilience of forests and society. In addition to acting as living collections, seed sources, and refugia of tree species, public gardens serve as biodiversity hotspots in cities, and meeting places for public and volunteer conservation efforts and outreach. As sentinels, trees in public gardens can be used to proactively detect emergent disease threats. Through collective action, exchange of information, public engagement, and local expert knowledge, “think global, act local” could be applied to aid proactive efforts to protect forest biodiversity from the next major pests across the world. Local experts and civic ecologists can accomplish this by collecting seed and observing trees in native environments, plantations, public gardens, and urban forests.* *Breeding or human-directed genetic improvement presents a practical solution for restoration of species that are impacted by emergent pest epidemics, climate change, or other threats. The utility of breeding to protect biodiversity also depends on the prior establishments of seed banks and other germplasm resources. It is critical to generate a prior understanding of the diversity of populations of tree species valued for their ecological, horticultural, or economic and commercial characteristics, the observed or potential effects of threats to those populations, and the role diversity could play in recovery of species.* We look forward to seeing the submissions of you and your colleagues to this event. Best regards, *Geoff Williams, PhDInternational Sentinel Network Coordinator* *Forest Service* *International Programs* *Office of the Chief* *Office: +1 (202) 263-9231* *WhatsApp: +1 (208) 874-7604**geoffrey.williams(a)usda.gov &lt;geoffrey.williams(a)usda.gov&gt;* 3101 Discovery Dr., Suite F Lansing, MI 48910 www.fs.fed.us <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fs.fed.us%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ccd9bcaf69e89481c690908d96e53ef0c%7Ced5b36e701ee4ebc867ee03cfa0d4697%7C0%7C0%7C637662129034536018%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Of%2BbKUO09cmZAtp1Yc5HQAko8%2FDCFcCljGfe0TgcuDg%3D&reserved=0> www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/international-programs <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fs.fed.us%2Fabout-agency%2Finternational-programs&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ccd9bcaf69e89481c690908d96e53ef0c%7Ced5b36e701ee4ebc867ee03cfa0d4697%7C0%7C0%7C637662129034536018%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=TCGz6T4SF%2BEXgTfdPuzFP6Pu0wtYi53tfemmjyakkLQ%3D&reserved=0> *Caring for the land and serving people* ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Brigitte Burger &lt;burger(a)iufro.org&gt; Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 6:32 AM Subject: [IUFRO Div 7] XXVI IUFRO World Congress: Call for Abstracts To: div7(a)lists.iufro.org &lt;div7(a)lists.iufro.org&gt; <https://www.iufro.org/> International Union of Forest Research Organizations XXVI IUFRO World Congress: Call for Abstracts *XXVI IUFRO World Congress 2024* * FORESTS AND SOCIETY TOWARDS 2050* *Stockholm, Sweden; 23-29 June 2024* *Congress website: **https://www.iufro2024.com/* <https://www.iufro2024.com/> *CALL FOR ABSTRACTS* Dear forest scientists and experts, dear IUFRO members, dear colleagues, The Congress Scientific Committee (CSC) is pleased to announce that the *Call for Abstracts* for the XXVI IUFRO Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, 23-29 June 2024, *is open *and welcomes submissions of abstracts for presentations in sub-plenary, technical and poster sessions. To submit your abstract, please take the following steps: 1. Consult the list of sessions at Call for Congress Abstract | IUFRO Stockholm 2024 (iufro2024.com) <https://iufro2024.com/call-for-congress-abstract> 2. Submit your abstract at Abstract Submission | IUFRO 2024 <https://www.appinconf.com/kas/Abstract?projectName=iufro2024abstracts> A form for abstract submission is available online. You will be required to insert a title (max 150 characters), authors with their affiliation (the author presenting the paper or poster at the Congress must be designated as the *Presenting Author*), and text (max 350 words describing context, specific topic of the study, methods, main results, and conclusions in plain writing). No figures, tables or list of references should be added. Please note that abstracts may be submitted in English only. Authors must select one of the following options: oral only; poster only; oral or poster. The session organizers will decide on the length of a talk, which could range from 2-3 minutes for flash talks to 15 minutes or more for regular talks. Please note that poster presenters will be given the opportunity to present their work orally (2-3 min) during moderated poster sessions. The Congress will feature only digital poster displays to ensure high visibility for poster presentations. Poster areas will be open and free to visit during the whole Congress. Authors are limited to *a maximum of two abstracts as presenting author*, although an individual may be listed as a co-author on several abstracts. Abstracts not associated with one of the sessions in the list may be assigned to a general poster session. Session organizers will review the abstracts for scientific quality, topical significance and relevance to the Congress themes <https://iufro2024.com/iufro-world-congress-2024/forests-and-society-towards-2050/iufro-world-congress-2024-themes/> and to the particular session to which the abstract is submitted, and assign them as oral or poster presentations. You will be informed in due time about the type and length of your presentation. Candidates for Best Poster Award <https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/discover/honour-bpa.pdf> must apply online during the abstract submission process. Abstracts will be accepted until *2 June 2023*. Authors will be informed if their presentation is accepted by *30 October 2023*. In order to remain in the programme, the registration deadline for *Presenting Authors* of accepted abstracts is *15 January 2024*. We look forward to your active participation in the design of the scientific program for the 2024 IUFRO Congress in Stockholm. *Elena Paoletti* *On behalf of the CSC* *______________________________________________* * You are receiving this message because you are an IUFRO member or officeholder. Contact us at **office(a)iufro.org* &lt;office(a)iufro.org&gt;* or visit **https://www.iufro.org/* <https://www.iufro.org/> * IUFRO Headquarters, Marxergasse 2, 1030 Vienna, Austria. Imprint: * *https://www.iufro.org/legal/#c74* <https://www.iufro.org/legal/#c74>* * Privacy policy: **https://www.iufro.org/legal/#c10397* <https://www.iufro.org/legal/#c10397> _______________________________________________ IUFRO Mailing List To post a message to all list members, send email to: To unsubscribe send an email to div7-leave(a)lists.iufro.org List info and Archive: http://www.iufro.org/science/iufro-mailing-lists/overview/