*Dear IUFRO Division 9 colleagues,* Thank you very much for your contributions this summer to updating your units’ address lists/mailing lists and to the recent survey questionnaire of working parties that was requested by the Vice-President for Divisions. With this email I am reporting back from IUFRO’s Executive Board Meeting in Beijing last month (building on an email from a colleague of Division 1) and reminding you that the deadline for submission of abstracts for IUFRO’s 125^th Anniversary Congress 2017 is rapidly approaching. *IUFRO EB MEETING* The recent meeting of IUFRO’s Executive Board took place 21-22 October 2016 in Beijing, China, in connection with IUFRO’s Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016 (24-27 October). The Board had some very productive discussions and drew important conclusions for future directions of our organization. As a truly international organization, IUFRO now includes more than 650 members institutions in 125 countries. /IUFRO Triple Survey/ In the near future, IUFRO HQ will send out surveys to (1) IUFRO office holders, (2) members of the International Council and (3) heads of member institutions on your / their perception of IUFRO. This is an important survey for our organization, for example for adjusting and setting new strategic goals and in considerations of possible adjustments in our organizational structure. I really recommend that you set aside time to respond to the survey when you receive it. In addition to this, an external review panel will be established to provide additional guidance for future directions and for adjusting our communication with non-IUFRO forest stakeholders. /Mailing lists/ Division Coordinators unanimously suggested that in the future mailing lists of participants at our conferences, symposia, meetings, workshops, courses, etc. should be forwarded directly to the HQ, c/o Brigitte Burger (burger(a)iufro.org <mailto:burger@iufro.org>), and that these will be used for updating and maintaining the address lists of all units. If you have additional updates or addresses for inclusion, these can be forwarded at any time. We believe that this simple procedure will help facilitate and improve our communication with colleagues around the world that share an interest in IUFRO activities, but do not hold a IUFRO office. /Recruiting of IUFRO office holders/ The Board, including all Division Coordinators, is much concerned about recruiting new and younger IUFRO officers at our regular officer ‘turn-overs’ every 4 years (remember: you can hold your IUFRO office for only 2 times 4 years = 8 years in total; then have to step down, step up or step over to some other position). The Board agreed to establish, together with IFSA, a IUFRO/IFSA Mentor Program for Potential Incoming Officers. We hope this will help rejuvenate (if not regenerate) IUFRO. I take this opportunity of reminding all of you to actively consider your replacement in due course before you have to step down yourself. We still urgently need more younger officers, more female officers, and more officers from certain, often disadvantaged, parts of the world. *IUFRO 125th Anniversary Congress 2017* As you are all aware IUFRO’s 125th Anniversary Congress will be held in Freiburg 19-22 September 2017. Division 9 has submitted (got accepted) the largest number of sessions of all Divisions (more than 30!). You have probably already been reminded before, but: the deadline for submission of abstracts for presentation is 30 November 2016. I strongly encourage all of you to contribute to this very special congress and to help in recruiting more contributions to populate the many congress sessions. You can read more about these at http://iufro2017.com/call-for-abstracts/ /All Division 9 Meeting/ During the IUFRO 125 Anniversary congress there will be an All Division 9 meeting held. It is not yet clear at which time slot this will take place but we assume at the very beginning of the conference. In order to discuss organizational matters and to understand synergies and possibilities for intra-divisional cooperation, please join this meeting. You will be informed about the time as soon as we get more information about this. /Cross-divisional OPEN sessions/// There are a few cross-divisional sessions with topics that range across multiple divisions and research topics. All of these sessions are open for oral as well as poster presentations, /no speakers have been appointed in advance/! Please consider contributing to these special sessions and encourage scientists in your IUFRO unit to submit abstracts specifically for the cross-divisional sessions. You may mention in the submission which session the presentation is intended for. The titles of the three cross-divisional sessions follow below; you can find more detailed information on the congress website. **I in particular I want to highlight to raise your attention to the session _SILVICULTURE FOR NON-WOOD ECOSYSTEM SERVICES_(together with Division 4, 6 and 1) We specifically invite research on the interface between silviculture and non-wood ecosystem services such as recreation, biodiversity, ground water and other non-timber products and forest uses. We also invite presentations on research relating to management philosophy and silvicultural concepts for non-wood ecosystem services. Good luck with your remaining IUFRO activities in 2016 and with your IUFRO preparations for 2017! Best wishes, Daniela Kleinschmit Coordinator, IUFRO Division 9 – Forest Policy and Economics -- Prof. Dr. Daniela Kleinschmit Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik/ Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy University of Freiburg Tennenbacherstr. 4 D- 79106 Freiburg Tel: +49 (0) 761/203-3712 Secretariat: +49 (0) 761/203-3713