Events

Mountain Forest Management in a Changing World

From: 07.07.2015 to: 09.07.2015

Mountain forests are characterized by steep ecological gradients and constraints on silviculture and logging techniques. At high altitudes harsh environmental conditions limit productivity and slow down regeneration processes, making mountain forests sensitive to management interventions. Interest in intensified biomass utilization for energy production and supply of wood-based industries may incease the pressure on mountain forest ecosystems. Global climate change has been particularly pronounced in mountain regions across the 20th century, reaching twice to three times the temperature increase of the global average. Further climate change is anticipated for the coming decades that will strongly affect mountain regions and thus the delivery of ecosystem services from these areas. The compounding effects of these and other developments become more acute as there is a large demand for a vast array of ecosystem services by a heterogeneous group of stakeholders .

The conference will provide an opportunity to discuss the potentials and limitations of current and possible future approaches to mountain forest management that are aimed at continously providing portfolios of ecosystem services not only under current, but particularly under future climatic and socio-economic conditions.

Themes of the conference are:

• Potentials and limitations of current management approaches to provide multiple ecosystem services;
• Climate change impacts on ecosystem service provisioning in mountain forests;
• Disturbance regimes in mountain forests and implications for ecosystem services;
• Alternative management strategies in mountain forests and consequences on ecosystem service provisioning;
• Decision support tools for mountain forest management; and
• Governance approaches to secure multiple ecosystem service provisioning in the future.

The conference will comprise keynotes speeches, sessions with oral presentations, a poster exhibition, a field trip and panel discussion..

Abstracts for oral and poster presentations are invited.

Important dates:

Abstract submission: 20 March 2015

Feedback on acceptance of abstracts: 31 March 2015

Early registration deadline: 31 March 2015

Late registration deadline: 15 May 2015

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Photo: Flickr/Miroslav Patrasko