Indicators for sustainable forest management in cultivated forests

Indicators for sustainable forest management in cultivated forests

11-13 December 2006 – Porto


 

Indicator for sustainable forest management are considered to be key tools for the implementation of regional, national, and international forest policies. Most certification schemes now also rely on indicators obviously assessed every few years.
Scientists neglected this field of investigation for a while considering that this monitoring was a development issue, and not a scientific issue.
After a few years developing the C&I concept, scientists identified many weaknesses in the monitoring of criteria and indicators as assessed by the stakeholders. Many studies focusing on the most importants indicators pointed out the definitions problems, poor accuracy, sampling strategies, etc.
It is therefore time to compile all the scientific work carried out all over the world to improve indicators definitions and assessment tools and to identify the more appropriate scale for each type of indicator.

The conference will particularly focus on the following topics

  • Carbon stock in forest: what is the more accurate and suitable way to estimate annual carbon sink? What is the adequate monitoring frequency for the various pools?
  • Forest health: How can we monitor the reality of damages? What is a comprehensive monitoring of health? What is included as part of sustainable forest management?..
  • Forest products and services: Why and how can we estimate the forest incomes on large scales? Same for net value? What are the key parameters related to forest sector economy?
  • Biodiversity in forests: How can we estimate forest biodiversity in a cost-effective way? Scale issue? What is diversity in relation to forest management?
  • Protective functions (water, soils, etc.) and environmental services of forests: How can we estimate the real impact of forest management? How can we quantify forests’ contribution? How can we estimate the value of these services ?
  • Social value of forests: How much workforce of an area depends on forests? What do forests represent for people, for forest owners? What is the social value of forests?

This congress primarily aims to update the tools and methods available for monitoring sustainable forest management and to provide examples of new useful indicators that have recently been tested.

Contributions in the form of oral presentations and posters will be requested for the above topics.

Tentative programme:

Day Morning Afternoon
Monday 11th Welcome address
Session 1 : Indicators needs and improvement
session 2 : Indicators for biodiversity assesment
Tuesday 12th Session 3 : Indicator for monitoring forests’ contribution to global carbon cycles Session 4 : Indicators for ecosystems health
Wednesday 13th Session 5 : Indicator for socio economic functions (call for contributions)
POSTER SESSION
Session 6 : Indictors for protective functions

An official dinner will be organized on Tuesday evening.
side events are planned on the 14th

Call for papers:

Abstract titles can be sent using the online preregistrataion form at www.iefc.net or mailed directly to the conference secretariat at conference85@iefc.net

The abstracts must be submitted as OpenOffice Text (or Microsft Word) documents according to the formatting guidelines for formating available here.

Important dates:

  • first call 22 November 2005
  • second announcement May 2006
  • deadline for abstract submission: 15 September 2006
  • publication of programme: 15 October 2006
  • late registrations: 1 November 2006

Scientific Committee:

  • Margarida Tomé
  • Julio Diez
  • Roque Soleiro
  • Hervé Jactel
  • Inazio Martinez
  • Américo Mendes
  • Jean-Luc Peyron

Organising committee:

  • Américo Mendes
  • Margarida Tomé
  • Christophe Orazio
  • Jean-Michel Carnus
  • Diana Feliciano

Location venue:

The meeting will be hosted by the Catolic University of Porto.
The conference hall can host up to 200 participants.

Estmated fees :

  • FORSEE project members and students (before 1 November): 100€
  • Early birds (before 1 November): 150 €
  • Late registration: 200 €

Online registration here

Payment can be done by bank tranfer to IEFC account or by credit card sending your card number to secretariat at conference85@iefc.net (encrypted messages welcome) You will receive an invoice as soon as you are registred.

gestion durable des FORêts un reSEau de zonEs pilotes pour la mise en oeuvre opérationnelle
Projet Financé avec l’aide de l’Union européenne, FEDER – Interreg IIIB Espace atlantique
Europe INTERREG IIIB Aquitaine Navarra Euskadi Castilla y Léon Galicia