The aim of the scientific seminar is to a explore the current state-of-the-art forest monitoring systems in Europe, get an insight into the latest scientific and technical developments in the field of remote sensing and forest monitoring, and provide a better understanding of the needs of decision makers in terms of forest related data and information.
Participants are welcome to join us for a networking coffee in Gather town at 10 - 10.45 CET. Bring your cup and join us. Here's the link to join.
Toward next generation forest monitoring: recent developments and policy needs |
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| Master of ceremony, Robert Mavsar, Deputy Director, EFI | |
| 11:00 | Welcome words |
| Marco Marchetti, Full Professor of Forest Planning and Conservation and Vice Rector, University of Molise, Chairman of the EFI Board | |
| Session 1: Forest monitoring challenges and opportunities: global, European and national perspectives | |
| Moderator: Margarida Tomé, Professor, Instituto Superior de Agronomía, Portugal | |
| 11:05 | Global multidecadal satellite-based forest change assessment: advances and limitations |
| Peter Potapov, Research Professor, Maryland University (presentation) | |
| 11:20 | Current situation and way forward for forest monitoring in Europe Latest developments in the field of remote sensing and forest monitoring |
| Gherardo Chirici, Professor, University of Florence (presentation) | |
| 11:35 | Forest monitoring systems in the Czech Republic |
| Peter Surovy, Associate Professor, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague (presentation) | |
| 11:50 | Panel discussion: Main challenges and opportunities to develop a harmonised forest monitoring system in Europe |
| Moderator: Robert Mavsar, Deputy Director, EFI | |
| Annemarie Bastrup-Birk, Forest Expert, European Environment Agency (EEA) | |
| Alessandro Cescatti, Senior Scientist, Joint Research Centre, European Commission | |
| Raisa Mäkipää, Research Professor, Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) | |
| Johannes Breidenbach, Research Professor, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research | |
| Ruben Valbuena, Lecturer in Forest Science, Bangor University | |
| Moderated Q&A session, with interventions from public | |
| 12:35 | Break (30 mins) |
| Session 2: Policy making and information needs | |
| Moderator: Helga Pülzl, Assistant Director for Policy Support, EFI | |
| 13:05 | Forest relevant targets in EU policy instruments - can progress be measured with available indicators and data? |
| Stefanie Linser, Senior Researcher, EFI's Forest Policy Research Network (presentation) | |
| 13:20 | FOREST EUROPE: future plans for pan-European indicators |
| Thomas Haußmann, Head of the Liaison Unit Bonn of Forest Europe (presentation) | |
| 13:35 | Panel discussion: Which data for informed policy making? |
| Moderator: Bernhard Wolfslehner, Team Leader of the EFI FOREST EUROPE Team | |
| Anssi Pekkarinen, Senior Forestry Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) | |
| Claudia Olazábal, Head of Land Use & Management Unit, Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission | |
| Eva Müller, Director-General for Forests, Sustainability and Renewable Resources, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany | |
| Tuula Packalen, Director-General of Natural Resources Department at Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland | |
| Moderated Q&A session, with interventions from public | |
| 14.35 | Concluding remarks (10 mins) |
| Robert Mavsar, Deputy Director and Helga Pülzl, Assistant Director for Policy Support, EFI | |
In the light of the latest developments at the European and global level (e.g., climate change, deforestation, growing population, urbanisation, post-pandemic economic recovery) forests are more than ever being recognised as a crucial resource. On one hand, forests are essential for biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and the provision of a wide spectrum of ecosystem services, while on the other hand they are the most important provider of crucial raw materials and are also crucial element for transforming the economic model from a fossil-based to a sustainable bioeconomy. Simultaneously, as a consequence of climate change, forests are more than ever exposed to extreme events and disturbances (e.g., drought, wildfires, storms, pest and diseases), which requires targeted measures to strengthen their resilience and their ability to provide the above-mentioned goods and services.
In this context, decision makers face a challenging task to ensure that forests can continue to deliver wide-ranging ecosystem services, while maintaining and enhancing their resilience. The basis for any management and decision making, should be reliable data, which adequately reflect forests conditions and advanced decision support tools that can enable informed decision making. Although, there is a wide array of forest information sources (from local to European level) these are scattered and mostly rely on diverse data sets that are not easy to compare. Despite the efforts to harmonize forest inventory data and the possibilities offered by the rapid development of high-resolution remote sensing methods, there is a lack of European-wide harmonized and robust information on forest resources and their conditions, which limits the possibilities for an informed policy development process and dialogue.