International Conference FORESTS FOR PEOPLE By Ulrike Pröbstl, Coordinator of IUFRO Task Force Forests for People The international conference “Forests for People” was initiated by the IUFRO Task Force “Forests for People” in line with the current IUFRO strategy This highly successful meeting was organized by University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, with the Austrian Federal Forest Service (ÖBf AG) offering the well-attended post-conference tours The conference achieved an amazing international participation which underlines the importance of IUFRO´s new strategic interdisciplinary approach It is remarkable that some 200 participants including forest managers, scientists, science administrators, policy makers and also an interested public audience, from all continents and nearly 40 countries could be attracted At the end of the conference an evaluation of whether and to what extent the conference was able to contribute to the aims of the Task Force and the IUFRO strategy was carried out and the following conclusions were drawn: • The aim, to enhance exchange and create or extent networks has been reached Various research groups have been brought together and exchange has been strengthened The conference contributed to strengthening the cross-divisional and sector cooperation and exchange and attracted researchers from outside IUFRO to present their ideas • The aim to involve not only researcher but also practitioner and forest administration has partly been reached Organized sessions and direct invitation were very helpful and necessary to reach this aim This is an important precondition to communicate new research findings • The aim to communicate and enhance new initiatives was perceived as successfully reached, since we could promote a new journal on outdoor recreation and tourism as a result of the negotiation with Elsevier and the new IUFRO publication strategy New cooperation opportunities have been enhanced, for example in the field of forest education, forest compensation, health and tourism The overall impression was that the conference offered a helpful platform to discuss global trends, investigate the role of forests in a broader societal context and define emerging key issues of strong interest to policy makers, society and groups inside and outside the forest sector The conference underlined the necessity of social science in forestry The conference on Forests for People also showed an increasing relevance of interdisciplinary research to address various new societal needs such as research in health and well-being, the development of new non-timber forest products and the improvement of livelihoods in developing countries All pictures (BOKU, Vienna) Ulrike Pröbstl, Conference chair, together with Alexander Buck and Frank Jensen About 200 participants attended the conference in Alpbach/Tyrol Poster presentation Keynote speaker Prof J Alavalapati, Virginia Tech, USA, discussed emerging trends in the forestpeople interface Disciplines and Inter-disciplinarity Apart from forest and forest related participants, the conference was also attended by participants with other professional backgrounds, e.g medicine and health, tourism, psychology, pedagogics, law, economics, political science, and spatial planning The conference was welcomed by the participants as an excellent exchange platform on an international level Many participants also used the conference to promote and strengthen existing networks and cooperation in specific fields The added value from inter-disciplinarity was very visible in the health sessions as well as in sessions about tourism and community forestry Description of Themes and Trends For the conference four leading subjects (based on the board meeting in 2011) were announced, which are based on the Thematic Area of the IUFRO Strategy on Forests for People In the following these leading themes are listed and commented against the experiences of the conference: Livelihoods – issues of agro-forestry, food security, fuels, poverty alleviation, and human dislocation For a large number of people forests play a vital role for their livelihood, food security, nutrition and fuels A loss or further degradation of forests may lead to poverty and human dislocation Seven sessions (28 presentations) dealt with this theme; many more colleagues had sent an abstract but could not come Important issues at the conference were community forestry, maintaining rural livelihood, considering cultural values, environmental conservation and adequate planning and participatory processes The case studies are not limited to developing countries such as Bhutan, Pakistan, Honduras, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Nigeria but included developed countries such as agreements with Native Americans in Canada One of the key issues have been the often required new trade-offs and the acceptance of land use changes New aspects in this discussion are global drivers which are affecting the dynamic of land use change In this context also the social responsibility of entrepreneurs has to be discussed and the role of forests needs to be redefined Health, Recreation and Tourism – issues of human health, recreation and nature-based tourism In developed countries the functions of forests have changed over time The various social functions are becoming increasingly recognized as being very important and include recreation as well as health, well-being and quality of life Furthermore, all over the world tourism is a growing economic sector which is always in search of new products, new offers and attractions Forests and natural environments across the world provide opportunities for regional development around nature-based tourism In total, sessions (with 28 presentations) covered this issue The contributions on nature based tourism have been mainly presented by none forest research institutions, governmental institutions and others The presented cases showed a wide range of applications and covered cases from central Europe as well as from Argentina or India The field of outdoor recreation and nature based tourism, however, is an issue dominated by European and North American research and experience The abstracts could be clustered into those dealing with national surveys and related strategies, in-depth research about preferences (e.g non-Western immigrants or adolescents) in recreation and management requirements and tools Totally new insights, methods and conclusions have been presented in the sessions about health and well-being, medical plants and therapeutic agents from forests The variety of different studies in cooperation with medical schools showing measurable long lasting health effects were for many participants new information and a possible basis for new opportunities and product development In this field the added value of interdisciplinary research was very obvious (see contributions from psychology, medicine, forestry and other disciplines) Urban and Rural Landscapes – issues of ecosystem services, economic benefits and development, spaces and places for living The international trend of urbanization is endangering forests close to cities and the metropolitan areas Their reduction goes hand in hand with significant losses of ecosystem services They also reduce the quality of spaces and places for living In rural areas the increasing demand for biomass is one of the forces changing significantly the character of the landscape and its ecosystem services In this field we had sessions with 22 presentations The research projects and case studies in the field of urban forestry were mainly dominated by European and North American presentations Leading subjects were been citizen involvement, management requirements in urban areas and the analyses of ecosystem services (and disservices) An increasing challenge are complex trade-offs including conservation and recreation purposes In the field of ecosystem services models of compensation and urban forest carbon offset projects have been intensively discussed, explicitly against with a view to increased sealing in urban areas and large projects (such as pipelines) Culture and Education – issues of perceptions of forests, spiritual character, education, historical tradition and practice, communication and governance Many countries have a strong cultural relationship and history associated with forests, the use of timber and related professions, traditions and practices It is important to maintain this knowledge to increase the awareness of forest and forest products and to integrate it into educational programs Furthermore, participatory planning, communication and governance play a crucial role to integrate the perception of forests and their important role into decision making processes In total, sessions (with 24 presentations) covered this issue Many sessions dealt with education on various levels ranging from education in forest kindergardens up to a successful design of forest training courses for practitioners, of master courses and summer schools on university level Furthermore, requirements of specific target groups such as children with special needs, adaptation of the contents e.g the use of renewable energy or the necessity of a forest PISA-study, were discussed The presentations were dominated by European research findings, experiences and case studies A second significant issue in the conference was about the spiritual character of forests and place attachment addressed by contributions from different parts of the world Finally, forest policy and governance issues were presented by the participants Key issues dealt with coping with uncertainty, complexity, value changes and public support for forest management The presentations covered examples from different parts of the world Milestone: Announcement and preparation of the Second conference Forests for people (913.07.2013) In the course of preparing the conference there had already been calls for a second conference to give more researchers the opportunity to contribute and to enhance the international exchange, since many were unable to attend due to the significant overlap of related meetings in 2012 Therefore, in 2013 the second conference on Forests for People will take place at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA The profile of the West Virginia University is very suitable since the university is also a well known regional leader in natural resource management Dr Joseph McNeel, Director of the WVU Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, fully supports hosting this important meeting Dr Robert Burns from the Faculty’s Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources program is looking forward to organizing the meeting, supported by local graduate and undergraduate students West Virginia University has been involved in IUFRO meetings and conferences over years Dr Steve Selin, who participated in IUFRO conferences and student tours in Finland, also welcomed the IUFRO meeting in Morgantown and West Virginia University: “We’d like to build on the successes of past Small-scale Forestry meetings held at WVU.” West Virginia University has its home in Morgantown This city of nearly 28,000 people lies just 1.5 hours (by car) from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s airport In addition, West Virginia University is just a four hours’ drive from Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland, which host numerous daily international flights Attendees would also have the option of renting a car and driving from these cities Conference and housing facilities are available in abundance in Morgantown, with a newly built conference center as well as several smaller conference settings available on the campus proper Assuming the 2013 FFP conference will draw between 250-300 attendees, many options are available Dr Robert Burns and his colleagues are extremely excited to be the host of the 2013 FFP conference