International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)

The mission of the Special Programme for Development of Capacities (SPDC) is to expand and foster forest research capacity in developing and economically disadvantaged countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America; The SPDC program involves training work-shops, thematic networking projects and a scientist assistance program (SAP). In 2022 scientist assistance to participate in IUFRO conferences and meetings was provided to 32 scientists from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Also three scientists were selected for scientific visits to IUFRO organisations for research collaboration. Two workshops, one on restoration education in South Asia and another one on forest landscape restoration in Ethiopia were implemented along with training programmes for FLR mentorship in Malawi and Sri Lanka.

The IUFRO-Mondi Partnership Project: This partnership, as a global partnership with a pan-European focus, aims to establish a science-business platform where both organisations will partner to address climate change challenges and identify ways forward for the wider forestry and business community to ensure a sustainable future. In 2022 further work on developing and expanding the science-business platform "Teaming-up4forest" was carried out through the organisation of think-tank meetings, outreach activities and the implementation of a scientific study on "The Future of Forest Goods and Services in Europe: How to Secure Timber Supply in Times of Environmental and Societal Changes?"

The "Global Forest Expert Panels" Initiative (GFEP) provides objective and independent scientific assessments of key issues in order to support more informed decision-making at the global level. The assessments are carried out by thematic Global Forest Expert Panels uniting leading scientists from around the world. In 2022 the Global GFEP Assessment on Forest and Human Health was completed, launched at the end of the year and then promoted through various outreach activities. In addition, work on a regional policy brief on forests and human health in Asia continued in 2022. Also, a new global scientific study on International Forest Governance was initiated in order to update the 2010 GFEP report with the title "Embracing Complexity: Meeting the Challenges of International Forest Governance".

Other program services: WFSE, ISR & various other projects (short term). WFSE: The comprehensive publication "Restoring forests for sustainable development - Policies, practices, impacts and ways forward" was completed and published as open access by Oxford University Press. Three events were organised, two at the climate conference and one at the XV World Forestry Congress titled "Forest restoration - a feasible pathway for sustainable development?" ISR: This project implements the redesign of IUFRO's Knowledge and Information Systems. The aim is to restructure IUFRO's website to support dynamic data structures which are adaptable and flexible in the long-term applying semantic search technologies for easier access to forest-related scientific information available in IUFRO's global network. By end of 2022 the entire new website had been designed in terms of templates and information types as well as design framework and system architecture. Other projects: included the Directors Forum as a platform for research leaders in the global IUFRO network - they organised a session at the All-IUFRO Conference: Forests in a Volatile World - Global Collaboration to Sustain Forests and Their Societal Benefits.