[IUFRO Div 9] Report of the All Division 9 conference held in Sarajevo 8-11 May

Dear all, Now the report of the All Division 9 conference is posted on our website (you can find it as well below). Soon there will be as well pictures from the conference. Let me take the chance and say once more great thanks to the organizers, hosts, students, presenters, supporters and all the active participants!!! It was great! Let's make use of the spirit and keep active. With sincerest regards Daniela **************************************** All Division 9 conference, Sarajevo 8-11 May 2012-05-16 The first IUFRO all Division 9 conference has been held in Sarajevo from 8-11 May this year. The conference has been hosted by the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and has been supported by the Forest Policy and Economics Education and Research (FOPER) project, the IUFRO Special Programme for Developing Countries (SPDC) and the USDA Forest Service. The first all Division 9 conference was held back to back with the "IUFRO Directors Forum", the research group within IUFRO where deans and directors of forest research institutions meet and discuss issues around the management of forest research, motivating a vivid exchange of information and experiences between directors and deans of forest research organizations and scientists and other members of Division 9. The conference has been a tremendous success. 170 participants from 52 countries all over the world participated in a conference not only perfectly organized but as well mirroring the great hospitality of the conference host in every detail. In this context a special thanks to the Dean of the Faculty Faruk Mekić and Mersudin Avdibegovic, who was the local responsible organizer. The program included plenary as well as concurrent sessions. In the plenary sessions general issues concerning Division 9 have been approached, e.g. on social science in IUFRO and forest research or the global forest governance research agenda. The first plenary session provided an overview of six of the seven research groups of Division 9 and the majority of the 21 working parties, presenting results, activities but as well the visions for the future. This introduction has been highly valuable for a fist all Division 9 conference to introduce the groups, the members, the visions and to identify opportunities of intradivisional collaboration. It became obvious that social sciences gain increasing awareness and becomea more and more important field in forest research activities. The concurrent sessions have been organized by different research groups and working parties. A specific focus of the conference was given by two groups organizing six sessions each: The research group 9.03.00 Forest History and traditional knowledge represented by Mauro Agnoletti and a joint research group 9.05.00 and the working party 9.05. 01 organizing sessions around the topic of assessing governance in a context of change represented by Gerard Buttoud. Beyond sessions have been held covering the diversity of Division 9, e.g. on communication, information, policy integration, extension and economic and legal perspectives. This diversity not only including research but as well practitioners on communication and legal aspects has been identified as a major strength of the Division 9. The conference has been not only been used to exchange knowledge and strengthen collaboration but as well to identify future pathways for Division 9, e.g. the options for active participation in the IUFRO World Congress 2014. Inspired by the high added value given by the participation of FOPER students in the conference, the recruitment of young scientists as officeholders in Division 9 has been identified as priority for the next year. Daniela Kleinschmit, Margaret Shannon and Konstantin von Teuffel ------------------------------------------------- Daniela Kleinschmit Assoc. Professor Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Unit of Forest Policy PO Box 7008, SE-75007 Uppsala Visiting address: Vallvägen 9C Phone: +46 18 672493 daniela.kleinschmit(a)slu.se, <http://www.slu.se/> www.slu.se