Ill: Tove Vollbrecht

International Conference

"BRIDGING THE GAP
- policies and science as tools in implementing Sustainable Forest Management".

October 17-19/21, 2005, Alnarp, South Sweden

Background

Sustainable forest management (SFM) requires a development of policy measures and management regimes that together lead to a desired goal by using the best scientific base as a foundation. However, there is a gap between policy implementation and existing knowledge, which needs to be bridged.

The key policy issues in implementing SFM have been identified throughout the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, MCPFE, from 1990 in Strasbourg to the latest deliberations at the Vienna summit in 2003. Several international and national organisations have contributed to the implementation of the MCPFE resolutions.

This Conference has its roots in the experiences of three activities: SUFOR, HEUREKA and ENFORS. SUFOR is joint Swedish university project with the Forest Faculty of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as main responsible organisation. The same faculty is also the home of HEUREKA. SUFOR aims at developing tools for achieving SFM in southern Sweden. HEUREKA is an ongoing research activity developing decision support tools in order to achieve SFM. ENFORS - European Network for long-term Forest Ecosystem and Landscape Research - has played a leading role in implementing the Strasbourg resolution S6 aiming at an increased collaboration in forestry research. A network of app. 100 institutes, their scientists and field facilities has been established. A joint research strategy will form the base for future interaction.

Independently these activities have identified the need to increase the interaction between policy making and the knowledge base. Also MCPFE identified this need at the Vienna summit. In the Work Programme of MCPFE the European Forest Institute, EFI, has the mandate, in collaboration with other organisations, to organise international events in support of MCPFE-process towards the next Summit in Warsaw. In addition to the official Work Programme of MCPFE, several policies related conferences, such as this joint effort, provide potential contribution to strengthen science-policy interface in the spirit of MCPFE.

Basic philosophy of the Conference

A policy will not exist if there are no stakeholders involved. Therefore this Conference is depending on the participation of policymakers, stakeholders and scientists holding the knowledge base. In order to illustrate the “gaps” the Conference will use prepared case-studies illustrating different gaps. The intention is to find ways to improve the dialogue between the different partners. Further the present criteria for sustainable forestry can be further improved.

Aims of the Conference

-  To bring together policy makers, stakeholders and scientific community;
-  To identify and analyse gaps between existing knowledge and policy implementation;
-  To review the knowledge base for criteria of sustainability;
-  To identify directions for future relevant research in support of sustainable forest
    management.

Structure of the Conference

Conventionally the Conference will consist of plenary, thematic and poster sessions as well as excursions.

-  The plenary sessions include opening addresses, setting the scene, case studies, state-of-the-art
    invited papers, and final discussions.

-  In parallel thematic sessions the knowledge base, present and future needs, will be discussed.

-  Poster sessions give a forum for voluntary contributions of the different fields of interest.

-  Excursions are arranged to areas close to the venue (16 October) and to South West Sweden
   (19-21 October) for demonstration of SFM problems as well as an ENFORS field facility for
   long-term research. This latter excursion will give an opportunity to visit Linnaeus “birthplace”
   – Stenbrohult.

The thematical structure of the Conference is built around the criteria of MCPFE (Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe) with the addition of the first topic:

-  The balancing act - Policy and planning
-  Social-cultural function
-  Economic function
-  Biodiversity function
-  Protective function of soil and water
-  Productive function - sustainable forest management

Last updated by Desirée Johansson 14.07.2005