Humphrey Kalibo, geography doctoral student, recently attended the 24th International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) World Congress held in Salt Lake City. He was among seven official bloggers selected to cover the event's technical sessions and sub-plenary meetings.
"The main reason for blogging is to communicate about the forest science in an engaging, interesting and captivating tone," Kalibo said. "We covered topics ranging from forest biodiversity, forests and climate change, fire, forest-water interactions, forest health, among many others."
Bloggers were selected based on the strength of their submitted writing sample and ability to cover more than one topic in the technical and plenary sessions. Other bloggers represented the University of Northern British Columbia, University of Pretoria, Colorado State University and University of Utah.
Kalibo wrote about the following topics (more details at http://go.unl.edu/ykpa):
• Sustainable Management of Spruce-dominated Ecosystems in Response to Climate Change: Lessons from North America and Europe
• Tracking Down Carbon in Water-Soaked Forests
• How are we Doing so Far? An Appraisal of Experiences in Implementing REDD+ Initiatives
• Coastal Forests and Mangroves: What's their Role in Local Livelihoods?
• Watching Carbon from the Skies
• Can Climate Change be a Driver for Land-Use Change and Adaptive Forest Management?
• Fires Work Wonders in Forested Ecosystems: Case Studies from Australia, United States, and Europe
• Shut Off That Engine!!
• Cogs in the Works of Ecosystem Resilience
"Overall, it was an engaging and worthwhile congress," Kalibo said. "Apart from presenting our own work and learning from others' research, we had the opportunity to network, make friends and join working groups that might be beneficial in our future professional development."
The 24th World Congress was organized by IUFRO and hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service in cooperation with the National Association of University Forest Resources Programs (NAUFRP), the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF/IFC). The theme was "Sustaining Forests, Sustaining People: The Role of Research."
"For me, it was my first time writing a blog, and doing so at such a high-powered meeting was a great honor and a valuable learning experience, especially in objective scientific communication," Kalibo said. "I'm looking forward to the 2019 IUFRO World Congress in Curitiba, Brazil."
IUFRO is a global nonprofit and non-governmental organization headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1892 and operational in over 100 countries, the organization's main objective is to promote international cooperation in forest-related research. Numerous regional meetings take place each year, but the World Congress convenes every five years.
– Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources
More details at: http://iufro2014.com/