[IUFRO WP 4.02.01]Re: Deadline for IUFRO 2024 presentation abstracts is 2 Jun 2023

Dear IUFRO Resource Data in the Tropics Working Party: The deadline is June 2 for submitting abstracts for IUFRO 2024 Session T3.21 “*Legacy tropical forest data: current status, uses, and securing them”* (page 120 in the sessions book) and other sessions. The call for abstracts for IUFRO 2024 is at https://iufro2024.com/call-for-congress-abstracts/. The abstract announcement is at https://iufro2024.com/wp-content/uploads/IUFRO_2024-Call_for_Abstracts-1-2.…. (NOTE THAT THE SESSION ABSTRACT DEADLINE HAS PASSED. THE CALL NOW IS FOR PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS). Download the book of IUFRO 2024 sessions t https://iufro2024.com/wp-content/uploads/IUFRO_2024-List_of_Sessions-1-1.pdf. Submit your abstract at https://www.appinconf.com/kas/Abstract?projectName=iufro2024abstracts *SESSION DESCRIPTION:* Legacy tropical forest data are older datasets. Over the years, these data have been generated from many projects, and they are now scattered among various institutions and people. Many of these datasets are on paper or in older digital formats, and therefore in danger of being lost. But these data have many potential uses. They are valuable for understanding how tropical forests have changed through time, including the cumulative impacts of change in land use and climate, and changes in patterns of biodiversity and carbon storage. They can serve as guidelines for forest restoration to previous conditions, or to projected conditions with climate change (using data from relevant sites). Many of the forests (e.g., in Nigeria and Ghana) represented in historical datasets no longer exist, so these data are the only record of the natural vegetation of the area. This session will focus on the current status of these data, their uses, and what needs to be done to secure them. We especially seek contributions from researchers based in tropical countries. We want to consider possible uses of these data for tropical forest restoration and research on long-term forest dynamics. We are also interested in current work using these data for biodiversity/biogeography studies, such as from the DryFor and TreeCo networks; and gaps in the spatial distribution covered by older datasets, such as for African montane forests. We aim for the last part of the session to be a discussion, with questions from the audience and discussion among the presenters and moderators. We hope to find common research themes among participants to help build possible collaborations. We also welcome poster presentations for this session. This theme should be interesting for Congress participants, with the increasing global focus on forest restoration. ABSTRACT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: SESSION: (Search for the session of interest) TITLE: Spell out words, do not use abbreviations. The title or text is not to indicate the country of origin, unless it is pertinent to the topic. AUTHORS: Names and surnames for each author must be provided. Do not include degrees or titles. The presenting author’s name will be published in bold. AFFILITATIONS: Each author should be listed by University/Hospital, Department and Country. Please make sure to include this complete information in the Affiliation text box. TEXT: The abstract must be in English and should be a maximum of 300 words, excluding the title. It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract; any errors in spelling, grammar, or scientific fact will be published as typed by the author, if accepted. Poor English may be a cause for rejection. The Programme Committee will accept abstracts for the Scientific Programme (oral or poster presentation) on scientific merit. “Only Abstracts of registered participants will be printed. At least one of the authors must be registered for the Conference.” We look forward to seeing you in Stockholm for IUFRO 2024. Regards, Sheila Ward Coordinator, IUFRO 4.02.01