The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016, “Forests for Sustainable Development: The Role of Research”, to be held from 24-27 October in Beijing, China, aims to reach a common understanding about the status and trends of forests, and the consequent research needs for sustainable development.
Asia and Oceania together make up only one-quarter of the world’s land area, but are home to more than one-half of the world’s population. Rapid social and economic developments in the densely populated region are putting increasing pressure on forests, while global climate change poses further challenges to resilience.
Research on multipurpose forestry development and a role for forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation are urgently needed, along with innovative ideas on ways to restore biodiversity and rehabilitate degraded forest ecosystems to enhance ecosystem services.
The IUFRO Regional Congress is one of the largest global events for leading forestry managers, scientists and decision makers. A team of CIFOR scientists will attend to lead and participate in panel sessions on a variety of topics, presenting the latest research findings on REDD+, ecosystem services, forest landscape restoration, tenure reform, bioenergy, green economies and other landscape-based approaches to forests for sustainable development.
