Fwd: IUFRO Spotlight #76 - Transforming Forest Landscapes to Meet Current and Future Needs and Challenges
by Sheila Ward
Dear IUFRO Meliaceae Working party:
Below is IUFRO Spotlight #76. Other Spotlights can be found at:
http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
Regards,
Sheila Ward
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: IUFRO Headquarters <office(a)iufro.org>
Date: Tue, Mar 24, 2020 at 6:49 AM
Subject: IUFRO Spotlight #76 - Transforming Forest Landscapes to Meet
Current and Future Needs and Challenges
To: Dear IUFRO Officeholder <mahoganyforthefuture(a)gmail.com>
[image: IUFRO Spotlight]
IUFRO Spotlight #76 - Transforming Forest Landscapes to Meet Current and
Future Needs and Challenges
*IUFRO Spotlight* is an initiative of the International Union of Forest
Research Organizations. Its aim is to introduce, in a timely fashion,
significant findings in forest research from IUFRO officeholders and member
organizations to a worldwide network of decision makers, policy makers and
researchers.
IUFRO will encapsulate, and distribute in plain language, brief, topical
and policy-relevant highlights of those findings, along with information on
where/how to access the full documents. The *IUFRO Spotlight* findings will
be distributed in a periodic series of emails as well as blog postings.
*________________________________*
Transforming Forest Landscapes to Meet Current and Future Needs and
Challenges
PDF for download
<https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/publications/spotlights/spotlight7…>
[image: Photo showing Treatment of regenerating natural tropical forests
aiming at enhancing productivity, biodiversity and resilience. Photo:
Michael Kleine, IUFRO.]
Treatment of regenerating natural tropical forests aiming at enhancing
productivity, biodiversity and resilience. Photo: Michael Kleine, IUFRO.
"Forest landscapes (FLs) are often the basis of local economies and social
identity," said Professor Andreas Bolte, Head of Institute at the Thünen
Institute of Forest Ecosystems in Eberswalde Germany.
"In past, many forests have been heavily degraded by unsustainable
practices, and today they are still under heavy pressure worldwide through
the loss and degradation of forests, conversion to other land uses and,
increasingly, climate change," he said.
Dr. Bolte is coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force (TF) entitled: *Transforming
Forest Landscapes for Future Climates and Human Well-being*.
<https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/transforming-forest-landscapes/>
This "new IUFRO TF is dedicated to providing and communicating the
scientific basis for transforming FLs to climate-resilient land use systems
that provide a full spectrum of ecosystem services for current and future
societies," he said.
"Our major goal," he said, "is to develop practical pathways for FL
transformation that lead to landscapes that better fulfill future needs of
local stakeholders and society at large throughout the world."
By facilitating the collaboration of researchers in many different science
fields – natural, social, and educational sciences – the TF will achieve
its goals, Dr. Bolte said.
As important as the multi-disciplinary areas of expertise of the TF
researchers, is the aspect of translating global Forest Landscape
Restoration (FLR) concepts into local contexts, he said. That is because
all forests – and the societies that dwell in or near them and depend on
them – are not the same.
Those sentiments were echoed by Dr. Mercy Afua Adutwumwaa Derkyi, a deputy
coordinator of the TF. "Our TF team," she said, "comes from different
continents, regions, ethnicities and genders and has expertise in natural
and in social sciences.
"It's a major step to bridge the different cultures and ethnicities – and
the different forests with their different stressors and management
issues," she said.
Dr. Derkyi is Dean of the School of Natural Resources and a senior lecturer
at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani, in the Bono
Region of Ghana.
To illustrate her point about different management approaches, she said:
"In Ghana one cannot use the same standards and principles to restore
forest reserves under total state management that one would use with
"off-reserve forests" (forests interacting with other land uses –
agriculture, mining, etc.)
That is because "there are different management regimes, stakeholder
dynamics and interests, tenure issues, benefit sharing mechanisms, policies
and legislation, etc.," she said.
Dr. Bolte added: "In any forest the integration of biophysical conditions
(site, climate, etc.) with societal needs and perceptions, as well as
technical options for FL transformation are the focus.
"By neglecting any one of these factors you significantly reduce the
success possibilities of FL transformation processes.
"Implementing FLR on the ground requires translating the FLR concept into a
local context; through a proper process in which multiple stakeholders are
key. That's our most important challenge," he said.
Dr. Bolte said the TF will use a "best practice" approach to illustrate FL
transformation options that have worked well in certain regions and may be
transferred and adapted to work in others.
As one example of such a best practice, a "decision tree" model was cited.
[image: Decision tree for choosing the appropriate restoration method,
depending upon objectives and site conditions. Decision nodes are strategy,
amount of overstory present, and how much of the area will be treated. In:
Stanturf et al. 2017. Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration: A
Practitioner's Guide.
https://www.iufro.org/science/special/spdc/netw/flr/flr/pract-guide/]
Decision tree for choosing the appropriate restoration method, depending
upon objectives and site conditions. Decision nodes are strategy, amount of
overstory present, and how much of the area will be treated. In: Stanturf
et al. 2017. Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration: A Practitioner's
Guide. https://www.iufro.org/science/special/spdc/netw/flr/flr/pract-guide/
The decision tree shows the appropriate restoration method, depending on
management objectives (reconciled with local stakeholders and
beneficiaries) and prevailing site conditions (local climate, soils,
vegetation structure etc.).
It offers two paths forward – passive or active restoration – including
starting conditions, treated area and method for restocking the area with
trees (natural regeneration, planting, etc.)
Such a system allows restoration practitioners to select the most
appropriate option, and one that is acceptable to local stakeholders, for a
given site/forest.
"Targeted education and training activities are crucial," said Dr. Bolte.
"It's important to elaborate the right tools to bring FL transformation in
the desired direction. This can include guidelines, scientific papers,
online portals, etc. It is critical to address the decision makers and
local communities with educational measures and training.
"The preferred outcome of the TF will be if FLR professionals and landscape
managers in various regions are informed about, and welcome, the TF
knowledge and training products for application in their local contexts,"
he said.
And Dr. Derkyi said: "For me, success is translating our scientific outputs
into outcomes that will have impacts on the ground. Given the depth and
variety of our TF team, I believe we will achieve this."
*Find out more about the IUFRO Task Force on Transforming Forest Landscapes
for Future Climates and Human Well-Being here: *
*https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/transforming-forest-landscapes/*
<https://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/transforming-forest-landscapes/>
*________________________________*
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*________________________________*
*IUFRO Spotlight #76, published in March 2020*
*by IUFRO Headquarters, Marxergasse 2, 1030 Vienna, Austria. Available for
download at: **https://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
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