Author: Maria Schlossmacher

Zu viel heiße Luft? Die vielen Gesichter des Waldes im Klimawandel

Zu viel heiße Luft? Die vielen Gesichter des Waldes im Klimawandel

Published May 26, 2020 by Maria Schlossmacher

Im Rahmen der öffentlichen Ringvorlesung „Aspekte der Erderwärmung“ hielt Georg Winkel, Leiter des Bonner EFI Büros eine Onlinevorlesung mit dem Titel: „Zu viel heiße Luft. Europas Wälder im Klimawandel zwischen Wissenschaft, Politik, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft“. In Zusammenarbeit mit seinem EFI-Kollegen Marcus Lindner referierte er zur Situation europäischer Wälder im Klimawandel.

Die zu beobachteten Veränderungen der (europäischen) Wälder und ihre Rolle in der Bekämpfung des Klimawandels sind ein zentraler „Aspekt der Erderwärmung“. Unter diesem Titel werden Vorlesungen aus verschiedenen Fachbereichen und Disziplinen aufgezeichnet, die sich alle mit den Ursachen, Erklärungen und Konsequenzen eines ändernden Klimas befassen. Die öffentliche Vorlesungsreihe wird auf Einladung von Niko Froitzheim, Professor am Institut für Geologie der Universität Bonn, organisiert, und von „Students for Future“ moderiert.

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“If we want a sustainable future, the ecosystem needs it as well”

Published April 29, 2020 by Maria Schlossmacher

An interview with Pierre Ibisch, professor for Nature Conservation

Forests are among our planet’s most important human life-supporting ecosystems, and we have many expectations with regards to the ecosystem services they provide. But: How do major global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss affect forests globally, and what can forest governance and management do? How can we deal with rising and changing demands for forest products and ecosystem services due to global population and economic growth, and urbanization?

In order to discuss these questions, the conference “Governing and managing forests for multiple ecosystem services” brought together policymakers, practitioners and academic researchers from different fields on 26-28 February in Bonn. During this event, EFI in collaboration with the documentary filmmaker Patrick Augenstein, interviewed Pierre Ibisch, Professor for Nature Conservation at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development.

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Gefährliche Mixtur: Warum das Waldbrandrisiko im Frühling so hoch ist

Gefährliche Mixtur: Warum das Waldbrandrisiko im Frühling so hoch ist

Published April 22, 2020 by Maria Schlossmacher

Ein Beitrag des „Verbund Vegetationsbrand“

Der Waldbrandgefahrenindex des DWD für den 21. April 2020

Nachrichtenportale und das Radio berichten davon, und auch die Wettervorhersage der Tagesschau warnt zur besten Einschaltquote vor der derzeit hohen Waldbrandgefahr. Dies ist üblicherweise ein Thema, was eher in den heißen Sommermonaten besprochen wird – doch Waldbrände halten sich genauso wenig an Monatskalender wie an Ländergrenzen. Gerade in diesen Tagen ist das Risiko für Waldbrände enorm hoch. Neben der Zeit im Hochsommer (Juli/August) gilt besonders für April eine erhöhte Waldbrandgefahr.

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Happy 25th Anniversary, EUFORGEN!

Happy 25th Anniversary, EUFORGEN!

Published December 6, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

Written by Ewa Hermanowicz & Maria Schlossmacher

2019 marks a milestone for EUFORGEN as it signifies 25 years since its establishment in 1994 – a time to reflect on what has been achieved and to look forward to the future. 25 years have shown that EUFORGEN was able to strengthen capacities in member countries to build a strong network and to start implementing a coordinated pan-European strategy on the genetic conservation of forest trees.

Founded as a result of a resolution adopted by the 1^st Ministerial Conference of the Forest Europe process, EUFORGEN aims to make the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources an integral part of sustainable forest management. The resolution called for the establishment of a voluntary instrument for cooperation on conservation of genetic diversity of European forests and EUFORGEN became that instrument.

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State-aid to protect Germany’s forests (Waldgipfel)

State-aid to protect Germany’s forests (Waldgipfel)

Published October 2, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

A devastating combination of heat, drought, fire, storms and beetle plagues have destroyed a remarkable amount of forest area in Germany, as well as in many countries across the globe. To discuss how this affects Germany’s forests and the different measures to counteract the impact of such threats, the Federal Agriculture Minister, Julia Klöckner, convened a Forest Summit on 25 September 2019 in Berlin. On the occasion of the summit, several institutions have published their own position to point out their perspective of what is needed to strengthen climate-resilient forests.

Besides its undoubtedly high value for nature ecosystem services, forests are the largest terrestrial carbon sink we have, and are regarded as highly important for some economies. Last two years, however, many forest owners have faced financial troubles.

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Forest Governance: How to orientate in the labyrinth of international forest policies?

Published September 12, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

By Lukas Giessen and Carmen Rodríguez

In this Blogpost Lukas Giessen and Carmen Rodríguez, both EFI staff, provide us with an insight into a recently published article on the numerous elements of international forest-related policy. The paper indicates that the many policies addressing forests in a way or another are fragmented and often conflict with one another, possibly leading to unsuccessful forest protection efforts of many governments around the globe. But this fragmentation is also found to hold promise for actors in finding allies to their own missions.

Because it is quite tricky to identify the actually relevant elements of a fragmented set of international policies, we developed a new method for mapping the entire governance architecture of international forest policy, using the United Nations Forum on Forests’ (UNFF) deliberations as key reference.

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Green jobs: different names, same thing? Perspectives from half-year reflection of the project’s milestones

Green jobs: different names, same thing? Perspectives from half-year reflection of the project’s milestones

Published August 1, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

The change to a greener economy offers important opportunities to create decent jobs and create social inclusion, besides leading the global economy to a path of sustainable growth…These changes give an opportunity to change all the shortcomings in the forest sector.

(Forest Europe, 2014)

Written by Juliet Achieng

The mention of green jobs elicits different reactions among people. For some, it is the hope of better tidings for the forest sector, for others it’s just a fancy term that has no clear meaning while for others it just brings more confusion and questions than answers. But who will shed light on this buzz word? The Green Jobs project brings together three international organizations (European Forest Institute, International Union of Forest Research Organizations and International Forestry Students Association) with research and networking prowess to attempt to give answers to this puzzle. We also aim to shed light on the changes in employment that have been happening as well as the drivers of these changes in different regions and what trends could be anticipated in the future with regards to employment in the sector. Skills and competencies needed for future employment are also a vital component of our project. Through a clearly defined research approach, consisting of a literature review, workshop, survey and rapid employers’ interviews, we aim to adequately tackle these topics and provide a more elaborate picture.

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EFI as chartered member of PyroLife

EFI as chartered member of PyroLife

Published July 29, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

Deadly wildfires in the past two years and the heatwave we are facing throughout in Europe this year are a glimpse of what to expect in the future. Therefore, the European Union has granted 4 million Euro for PyroLife, a project in which framework a new generation of experts will be trained in integrated fire management. We are happy to announce that we will take part in the newly established project.

PyroLife is the first integrated doctoral training programme on wildfires globally and will train 15 PhD candidates across Europe, coordinated by Wageningen University & Research.

Within this project, the European Forest Institute will supervise one PhD student and further offers various fire related trainings through the SURE project.

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The SDG-tenure nexus in forest landscapes: applying a rights-based approach

The SDG-tenure nexus in forest landscapes: applying a rights-based approach

Published July 17, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

written by Lukas Giessen, Pia Katila and Maria Schlossmacher

As a chartered member of the Global Landscape Forum (GLF), EFI Bonn was delighted to host a jointly organized event together with our long-term partners and friends from IUFRO-WFSE, FAO, and Luke at the GLF in Bonn, Sunday 23 June 2019.

Through an introductory presentation by Pia Katila (IUFRO-WFSE, Luke) followed by a panel discussion, several questions were discussed: How are tenure and rights included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? What is the evidence on the links between rights/tenure and sustainable landscapes? Why has the progress on strengthening tenure rights of local communities been so low? And what are the most promising approaches to strengthening the link?

The SDGs call for equal access and rights to land and other productive resources. Pia Katila noted that rural land rights are implicitly included in three SDGs: SDG 1 on poverty, SDG 2, on hunger and SDG 5, on gender. However, tenure and rights are instrumental for moving forward with several other SDGs as well, such as e.g. SDG 8 on employment and economic growth. They are also crucial for SDG 10 to reduce inequality within and among countries, SDG 14 to conserve and sustainably use coastal areas and mangrove forests and SDG 15 on protection and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems such as forests.

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Deadwood management in production forests

Deadwood management in production forests

Published June 26, 2019 by Maria Schlossmacher

Written by Lucie Vítková

“Deadwood has a major role for the conservation of saproxylic species and contributes to carbon sequestration, nutrient supply, natural regeneration and protection against falling rocks.” (Lachat et al., 2013:92)*

A substantial amount of literature on the importance of deadwood in Central European forests has been available providing partial recommendations to enhance deadwood-dependent biodiversity. However, a comprehensive review of science- and forestry experts-based recommendations effectively enhancing deadwood bearing in mind operational implications has not been presented in international literature.

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