Past Events

Science for development in Africa. 22 – 30 January 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2007 - ,

,

The role of science, technology and innovation in improving economic development will be high on the agenda when African Heads of State meet in Addis Ababa for the 8th annual summit of the African Union (AU), January 22 – 30, 2007.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) will contribute to the theme by providing displays and information about its 15 research centers at the Science Exhibition organized by the Economic Commission for Africa.

The CGIAR believes it has an important role to play in addressing these issues. According to the Director of the CGIAR, Francisco J.B. Reifschneider, the CGIAR’s mission is to “Harness the power of science and use it to help solve problems associated, in their many dimensions, with poverty, food security, environmental protection and economic growth”,

In West-Africa, CIFOR is putting dry forests back on the policy agenda. Dry forests are vital to the livelihoods of millions of West Africans, providing them with food, fodder fuelwood and more. With the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), CIFOR is encouraging policy makers and donor communities to develop policies that more closely address the links between human well-being and dry forests.

In Central Africa, CIFOR scientists have been studying the role of Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s) for more then 10 years. They discovered NTFP’s can play a big role in reducing poverty if the right measures are taken. In Cameroon, for example, bureaucratic difficulties such as informal taxes and uneven quotas prevent farmers and traders from getting the full benefit from their products. CIFOR is helping top resolve these issues through its researchers working with and advising relevant government agencies.

As CIFOR researcher Ousseynou Ndoye puts it, “We need a continuous policy dialogue that informs policy makers and donors of two key issues. First, the importance of policy recognizing the essential role forests play in the livelihoods of rural communities. And second, the importance of ensuring regional and national poverty reduction strategies and policies include forest products. And this policy dialogue must be based on sound knowledge and intelligent advice that comes from good science and research.”

Hopefully this message will come cross loud and clear at the heads of state meeting the 8th Annual Summit in Addis Ababa.

For information about the Summit, visit:http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/Conferences/Past/2007/January/summit/summit1.htm

Indonesian version of “Life after Logging” now available

2007 - ,

,

Hutan Pasca Pemanenan, the Indonesian translation of the highly regarded 2005 publication, Life After Logging, examines the impact of logging on wildlife in Malinau, East Kalimantan. The book shows how forest management can be improved in many simple ways to increase the compatibility of timber extraction and wildlife conservation. Logging has been long viewed as a major cause of conflict between conservationists and timber companies. But this book shows how these diverse interest groups can achieve much more by working together.

Hutan Pasca Pemanenan’s launch was held at the “Ak.sa.ra” bookstore and included a presentation by author, Erik Meijaard, from the Nature Conservancy. As part of his presentation Eric noted that non-strictly protected forests contribute much more to conservation than previously realized and that this has enormous implications for forestry and conservation. Co-author Doug Sheil, CIFOR joined Erik to lead an open discussion with the audience. Representatives from organizations including Birdlife, UNESCO, LIPI and WWF praised the book and the consultative process that had led to it.

The book is available from CIFOR free of charge. It was translated into Indonesian to make its important information and advice more accessible for policy makers, officials, industry representatives and students working in forestry, environment and conservation in Indonesia. For free copies of Hutan Pasca Pemanean contact Nia Sabarniati, CIFOR,n.sabarniati@cifor.cgiar An electronic version can be downloaded athttps://www2.cifor.org/Publications/Detail?pid=2098

“Hutan Pasca Pemanenan” bisa diperoleh tanpa dipungut biaya di CIFOR. Buku ini diterjemahkan ke dalam Bahasa Indonesia agar informasi dan saran-saran penting dapat lebih mudah disampaikan kepada para pembuat keputusan, aparat pemerintah, kalangan industri serta mahasiswa di bidang kehutanan, lingkungan dan konservasi di Indonesia. Untuk mendapatkan buku tersebut, silakan menghubungi Nia Sabarniati, CIFOR din.sabarniati@cgiar.org. Versi elektroniknya dapat didownload dihttps://www2.cifor.org/Publications/Detail?pid=2098.

Workshop on Mobilising Wood Resources 11 – 12 January 2007

2007 - ,

,

A two day workshop, “Mobilising Wood Resources: Can Europe’s forests satisfy the increasing demand for raw material and energy under sustainable forest management?” is to be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

A two day workshop, “Mobilising Wood Resources: Can Europe’s forests satisfy the increasing demand for raw material and energy under sustainable forest management?” is to be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. A feature of the event will be a workshop related to Vienna Resolution NO. 5 on "resource mobilization and comprehensive wood utilization strategies in support of SFM”. Objectives include developing strategies for mobilizing wood amid increasing demand, better understanding how increased wood mobilization affects different sectors, providing policy recommendations and offering input for the 2007 Warsaw Ministerial Conference. Participants will include representatives from a range of stakeholders including governments, EU institutions, international organizations, forestry services, forest owners, contractors, forest based industries, pulp & paper industries, energy companies, NGOs, research organizations and universities.

Further information:

Palais des Nations
CH – 1211 Geneva
Tel. +41-22-917 1286
Fax +41-22-917 0041
Email:info.timber@unece.orghttp://www.unece.org/trade/timber/workshops/
2007/wmw/mobilisingwood.htm

Landslides and climate change: TROFFCA Meeting 7- 8 December 2006

2006 - ,

,

CIFOR is hosting a one-day seminar for stakeholders to share ideas and contribute to an open dialogue entitled "Adaptation to Potentially Different Characteristics in Landslide Hazards under the Influence of Climate change".

CIFOR is hosting a one-day seminar for stakeholders to share ideas and contribute to an open dialogue entitled "Adaptation to Potentially Different Characteristics in Landslide Hazards under the Influence of Climate change". Participants will assess the affects of different precipitation patterns on landslides, the role of forests and other land cover in controlling landslides, landslide risk reduction, and how to be better prepared for adapting to future climatic and societal conditions. The approximately 20 participants will include policy makers, academics and other professionals. The seminar will be in bahasa Indonesia.

Further information:

• Heru Santoso ath.santoso@cgiar.org
• Hety Herawati ath.herawati@cgiar.org

II LATIN AMERICAN IUFRO CONGRESS

2006 - ,

,

In the international year of deserts and desertification  
The increasing importance of the environmental, social and economic functions performed by forests.

The Chilean Forestry Institute (INFOR) is hosting the II Latin American IUFRO Congress, International Union of Forest Research Organizations. The congress will be held in La Serena IV Region – Chile, October 23 to 27, 2006.  Discussion themes will include: Forests, Environment and Society; Forests and Production; and Arid and Semiarid Zones.

FORESTS, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

Forest resources contributing to improve life means

• Forests and rural poverty, rural development, small scale forestry and community management
• Functions and services of forest ecosystems
• Ecosystem management of protected areas and forest landscapes
• Restoration of degraded forests, deforested and eroded lands
• Agroforestry systems and tree resources outside forests
• Forest law, policies, institutions and better forest governance

FORESTS AND PRODUCTION

Increasing forest area and improving products

• – Silviculture- Management of planted and native forests
• – Genetic improvement
• – Forest health
• – Forest operations
• – Wood and non wood forest products
• – Industrial forest development, markets and investments
• – Competitiveness of small and medium forest enterprises

ARID AND SEMIARID ZONES

Combating desertification and creating new resources

• Planted forests
• Natural forests- Products and development of forest business
• Control of desertification processes
• Integrated systems with agriculture and livestock
• Water resources management

Language: Congress will be conducted in Spanish, English and Portuguese and simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Further information:

Ecosystem Goods and Services from Planted Forests Conference

2006 - ,

,

3*-7 October, Bilbao, Spain
Papers invited, registration open

While the world’s total area of forests is declining, plantations are increasing rapidly. This has major implications for the future of ecosystem goods and services. These implications are the subject of a major conference CIFOR is co-hosting in October 2006.

As native forests disappear or become less accessible, people are becoming more reliant on plantations for ecosystem goods and services. The Ecosystem Goods and Services from Planted Forests conference will consider:

• How far plantations substitute or augment ecosystem goods and services from native forest
• How plantations can be managed to optimise the provision of such ecosystem goods and services as habitat, clean water and non-timber forest products?

People are invited to make oral presentations and posters about the following:

• Ecosystem services from plantations
• The role of plantations in biodiversity conservation
• Plantations and rural livelihoods
• Interactions between plantations and other land uses in the landscape
• Assessment methods for ecosystem goods and services from plantations
• Design and management principles to optimize the provision of ecosystem goods and services from plantation forests
• Forest policies to enhance the provision of ecosystem goods and services from plantations
• Conversion of plantations to semi-natural forests
• Standards for sustainable plantation management
• Markets for ecosystem services from plantation forests

CIFOR will publish keynote papers in a book and selected contributions will be published in the journals ‘European Journal of Forest Research’ and ‘Land Use and Water Resources Research’

Part of a larger congress on the Role of Planted Forests in Sustainable Development, the conference is sponsored by the Economic Cross Cultural Programme between the EU and India, IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organisations), CIFOR and IUCN (The World Conservation Union). It is organised by the NETFOP project (Networking Forest Plantations in a Crowded World) through the Institute of Silviculture at Freiburg University and the European Institute of Cultivated Forests (IEFC – project centre of the European Forest Institute)

• Please note: the event will now start on October 3 not October 4

International Workshop on Bamboo Processing Technologies

2006 - ,

,

Zhejiang, P. R. China, September 6-20, 2006

The International Farm Forestry Training Center, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, the Chinese Academy of Forestry and the Government of the People’s Republic of China are hosting a major workshop on bamboo in September 2006.

The workshop will enhance cooperation between developing countries and provide a forum for exchanging information about bamboo production technology, including the production of handicrafts, the application of technology and the use of machinery.

To be held in Zhejiang , the training workshop will combine courses with hands-on practice in factories and will include:

• A general introduction to China’s bamboo industrial development
• Bamboo and sustainable rural development
• Processing techniques and machines for bamboo products
• Bamboo processing machines and preservation technologies
• The bamboo industry’s supply chain

Further information:www.inbar.int/news/tc06_1.doc

Email:zhzhu@inbar.int orWjin@inbar.int

Workshop on Forest Governance and Decentralisation in Asia and the Pacific

2006 - ,

,

4-6 September 2006, Yogyakarta – Indonesia

TheAsia Forest Partnership (AFP) is sponsoring the Yogyakarta Workshop on “Forest Governance and Decentralisation in Asia and the Pacific,” hosted by the Government of Indonesia, from 4-6 September 2006. The Workshop will focus on roles, rights, responsibilities and institutions, with special attention to gender, law enforcement, equity, land tenure and use, land rehabilitation, and fire. The three-day meeting will include one day of field trips around Yogyakarta to see Indonesian decentralization in action. Other active partners include FAO, RECOFTC, the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Swiss InterCooperation and FOEN, ITTO, and CIFOR.

The Yogyakarta Workshop on Forest Governance and Decentralisation in Asia and the Pacific will include some 80-100 invited participants, coming from various sectors (e.g., government, academia, NGOs, research institutions, donors). The first day, eight analytical presentations will be made, representing a number of the Asia Forest Partnership countries. The field trip will focus attention on Indonesia’s experience; and the final day will consist of intense, facilitated working group sessions, designed to develop recommendations and lessons learned from the workshop. These may be forwarded to UNFF. Special efforts are being made to ensure representation from all levels in the decentralization process, from national to local.

The objectives are to share experiences and lessons learned, to identify the implications of trends at the various levels, and to recommend approaches that will strengthen policies, institutions and practices in Asian and Pacific countries. Expected outcomes include

• Better understanding of the concept and implementation of decentralization in the region
• Identification of opportunities for complementary national policy responses, capacity building and best practices,
• Identification of strategies and instruments for overcoming constraints to effective decentralization and sustainable forest management at all levels, and
• Determination of mechanisms and activities to ensure the follow up on the recommendations of the workshop

We expect to have a poster session and limited opportunities for side events at the Decentralization Workshop, 4-6 September 2006. The nature of the side events is not yet completely defined, but should offer opportunities to present papers or meet with informal groups. Please notify about your poster or side event interests by 30 July, so that appropriate preparations can be made.

If you wish to present a paper in a side event, we suggest the following guidelines:

Paper Presentations

The oral presentation of a paper should be limited to 12-minutes. Speakers should rely on handouts for all supplemental materials; however, a 35-mm slide projector, an overhead projector for transparencies, and a video projector for PowerPoint presentations are potentially available. Be sure to notify Ms. Nety Tarigan about your equipment wishes by 30 July.

Recognize the constraints imposed on paper presentation:

1. The short time of only 12 minutes (with an additional 3 minutes for questions)
2. The context must be related with decentralization in the forest sector.

You should have available for distribution, copies of a printed version of your paper with the details of the research (25 copies or more) and/or a sign-up sheet on which interested people can request the paper. Be sure to indicate on the paper your identification, the conference source reference, and whether or not it may be quoted.

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations provide the opportunity for the presenter and the audience to talk with one another. A physical arrangement similar to an exhibit area is used for this interaction. Each presenter is provided with a freestanding bulletin board, usually around 1.20 m (high) by 80 cm (wide), on which to display the poster. During the designated period, the audience moves through the poster display, stopping to interact with those who are presenting research that is of special interest to them. Thus, the interaction between the presenters and the audience is likely to be more meaningful than is typically the case in paper sessions. Therefore, when constructing your poster, remember to utilize the opportunities provided by this method of presentation.

Content: related with decentralization of forestry

Those wanting further information can contact Nety Tarigan (y.tarigan@cgiar.org).

For more details,see the flyer ( PDF file, 614KB)

Tropical Forests and Climate Change Adaptation (TroFCCA) West Africa Kick-off Meeting

2006 - ,

,

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, June 6-8, 2006

The TroFCCA project in West Africa will hold its first regional kick off meeting June 06-08, 2006 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to formally launch its activities in the region. This meeting will also provide the following opportunities:

• Jointly identify and prioritize highly vulnerable forest goods and service sectors to climate change at both national and regional scales,
• Share views on a common methodological approach in evaluating vulnerability and adaptation of key sectors of national and regional interest to climate change, and
• Initiate regional policy dialogue on climate change adaptation.

During this meeting, the national focal points (Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana) and some invited participants will share their national, regional and international experiences and strategies on adaptation to climate change. The meeting will also explore the opportunities for transboundary activities crucial for biodiversity conservation, natural resource flow and transhumance activites which are directly relevant for climate change adaptation in the region. The outcome of the meeting is expected to involve jointly developed national and regional climate change adaptation initiatives for implementation, and a set of future milestones and follow up mechanisms.

For more information, please contact:

Tropical Forests and Climate Change Adaptation (TroFCCA) Southeast Asia Kick-off Meeting

2006 - ,

,

Bogor, Indonesia, May 29-30, 2006

The TroFCCA project in Southeast Asia will hold its first regional kick-off meeting May 29-30, 2006 in Bogor, Indonesia, to formally launch its activities in the region. The meeting has four specific objectives:

• Formally initiate the activities of TroFCCA in Indonesia and present the project to government organisations
• Discuss needs, opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming adaptation to climate change into national development policies
• Analyse forest fires in the context of adaptation to climate change and climate variability, including methodologies
• Explore the contribution of TroFCCA to national processes of adaptation to climate change in Indonesia.

The meeting will bring together practitioners, policy makers, and academics working in the areas of forest fires and climate change. The participants will have an opportunity to share knowledge, lessons-learned, and best practices from their professional experiences. The meeting will be attended by approximately 25 participants.

For further information, please contact:

Click here to see more information about TroFCCA