4:02 a.m.
Dear colleagues,
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(a)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(a)fmach.it
Kind regards,
Nicola La Porta and Ari Hietala
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
Privo
di virus.www.avast.com
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>