On the 15th of November 2021, 16 scientists and practitioners from Europe and Japan will virtually provide insights and exchange views on their latest research on diverse cultural Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) in an international perspective.
Recently, there has been an increased demand for diverse multiple cultural forest ecosystem services such as health, recovery, tourism, leisure activities and others. Especially the global pandemic showed that peri-urban forests provide a vital human health supporting function. Taking these developments into consideration, the focus of the symposium will lay on the importance of cultural FES as a new possibility for (business) innovations. The potential contribution of those innovations for sustainability policies regarding forests under the frame of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be another discussion point.
The European ‒ Japanese Sophia Symposium will be divided in two sessions and take place via Zoom.
In the first session, Supply, Demand and Politics of Cultural FES will be addressed. Prof. Tobias Plieninger from the University of Kassel & University Göttingen will start the session with a presentation, talking about the importance and occurrence of cultural ecosystem services in Europe. Furthermore, forest ecosystem services in Europe, spiritual values of forests, and cultural FES in Japan will be thematized.
In the second session we will talk about new business opportunities and case studies. Prof. Davide Pettenella, University of Padua, will present challenges for marketing and payment of cultural FES in Europe. Apart from that, different projects dealing with cultural FES will be presented.
The symposium will be held in English but simultaneously translated into Japanese.
