Post: Record attendance at World Congress confirms forestry sector’s vital role in climate mitigation

August 29, 2024

Record attendance at World Congress confirms forestry sector’s vital role in climate mitigation

Exhilarating is the word that best sums up the experiences of the 4,300 delegates who attended the 26th IUFRO World Congress in June and experienced 3,500 presentations, 200 sessions, over 70 innovations and the networking opportunities offered in Stockholm, Sweden.

The International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) World Congress was held on 23 – 26 June under the “Forest and Society Towards 2050” banner. The record attendance confirms the sector’s vital role in climate mitigation and the quest for a science-based, sustainable future.

FABI DELEGATES

Amongst the delegates were 13 from Pretoria University’s Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). They used the opportunity to share the institute’s work and network with colleagues worldwide. The Fabians participated in 18 talks, poster presentations and IUFRO committees, including Working Groups, Divisions, the Director’s Forum, the Central Board, and the International Board.

MOKENA MAKEKA

Mokena Makeka, a South African architect and Special Advisor to the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the Cooper Union in New York and Partner at Axum, addressed a session at the meeting. He argued that the bioeconomy is the sixth industrial revolution. It consists of nature-based solutions, innovative design, and replacing non-renewable resources.

Makeka said forest-based solutions have a critical role in the planet-centred approach of addressing the poly-crisis consisting of aspects such as increased and unchecked pollution into the atmosphere, degraded landscapes, extreme weather patterns, poor land use management, and waste management.

“We need to think very carefully about what type of world we can achieve between now and 2050”, he said.

“Cities will be the site of the most rapid evolution of living in human history. This results from the demographic change we are seeing and how cities have evolved as sites of extraction or products of extraction. Cities must be imagined as production sites, particularly nature-positive, re-generational production”.

He highlighted the importance of climate-smart urbanism. It is an approach to architecture, urban development and planning that considers the challenges and opportunities of climate change and socio-spatial justice to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to essential resources, services and opportunities, regardless of location.

MONDI

Dr Dirk Längin, the group dead of fibre sourcing at Mondi in Vienna, delivered the main address at the Congress session on “Scaling up the exchange between forest science and business”.

The session fell under the theme “Towards a responsible forest bioeconomy”, which discussed the science-based pathways for current and future response measures to climate change. He spoke about the significance of building bridges between science, business, and stakeholders to benefit forests, the sector, and society.

ABOUT IUFRO

IUFRO congresses are interdisciplinary and are a forum for scientists and stakeholders to discuss technical and societal issues of forest-related research, policy-making, and management.

IUFRO is a global, non-profit, non-governmental, and non-discriminatory organisation headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It has a tradition dating back to 1892, with the first World Congress held in 1893. It unites about 630 member organisations in more than 115 countries, representing over 15,000 scientists.

It has nine scientific Divisions, over 50 Research Groups, more than 180 Working Parties and nine interdisciplinary Task Forces. These units are run by almost 800 voluntary coordinators. Task Forces are established for a limited period to deal with and synthesise scientific information about topical cross-cutting issues that go beyond the scope of a division or research group.

THERE ARE SPECIAL PROGRAMMES ON:

Development of Capacities (IUFRO-SPDC)
Science-Policy Programme (SciPol)
Directors’ Forum (IUFRO-SPDF)
Project on World Forests, Society and Environment (IUFRO-WFSE).

IUFRO also leads the Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) and Global Forest Information Service (GFIS). The 2029 IUFRO World Congress – the first held in Africa – will be hosted by the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) in Nairobi. The theme will be Advancing Global Partnerships in Forestry Research and Development.