Organized by: Dr. Paola Pozo , Dr. James Chamberlain, Dr. Joerg Schweinle, Alicja Kacprzak, Ivana Zivojinovic, Helga Pulzl, Christophe Orazio, Lidija Zadnik-Stirn, Richard Bergman, Anne Toppinen

Bioeconomy has gained much attention as a global goal expressed in different national and international strategies, as a pathway to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda, its sustainable development goals and the Paris Agreement. Although bioeconomy is associated often with a range of benefits, the transition implies trade-offs as well as risks and opportunities. Whereas trade-offs and synergies between different sustainability objectives are unavoidable, identifying them is important to propose solutions that minimize or maximize impacts. For that, systems that monitor, evaluate and contribute the development of the bioeconomy and its sustainability need to be developed.

Despite the growing interest in forest-based bioeconomy, there is no standard definition and the focus has been mainly on wood products. A forest-based bioeconomy includes more than wood! Timber, non- timber forest products, their value chains and the services they provide are part of the forest-based bioeconomy. These can contribute substantially to rural and urban livelihoods,
economic growth, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Likewise, a recent report from FAO demonstrated that the development of wood construction will require an increase of 35% of planted forests by 2050. These forests will contribute to substituting carbon-intensive materials in the transition towards carbon- neutrality, satisfying increasing demand for forest products and emerging markets.

This collaborative session shares experiences and current trends and discusses the challenges, opportunities and best practices towards sustainable forest-based bioeconomies, highlighting nuances of a forest-based bioeconomy. The evaluation of the impacts in all sustainability dimensions (social, economic, environmental, cultural, governance) and along the complete value
chain is a strong focus of the session. Presentations of environmental and social impacts are of particular interest. Participants will examine policy and innovative approaches to support and evaluate sustainable and circular forest-based bioeconomies. Oral presentations and posters from government, industry, international organizations, and academia will portray case studies across
the world.

The session addresses the following topics:

1. Concepts and goals of forest-based bioeconomies along global value chains.
2. Approaches to assess sustainability in forest-based bioeconomies.
3. Assessment of the forest-based bioeconomy contribution to economic growth, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, circular use of biomass.
4. The role of planted forests for a resourceful bioeconomy, to fulfill future needs, and achieve sustainability goals.
5. The role of bioeconomy in achieving inclusive and equitable societies and a fair distribution of benefits in different contexts and practices.

6. Forest bioeconomy policy, framings, narratives and innovation governance.

Organized by: Stefanie Linser

Research and development of forest biodiversity indicators and their impact to monitor, assess and report sustainable forest management as well as their adaptation towards new and emerging needs are presently high on the political agenda. Political decision makers are calling for better forest biodiversity indicators to support responses to new and emerging needs, such as the climate emergency.

The need for biodiversity indicators to deal with the current biodiversity challenges is a central part of national, regional and global forest biodiversity strategies such as the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the European Union Green Deal. The endeavors to develop appropriate biodiversity indicators and alignment to these and other international instruments such as the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration are major reasons for the renewed interest in forest biodiversity indicators.

Forest biodiversity indicators will be crucial to verify the impact of actions taken with regard to forest biodiversity related targets and goals and the related implementation of measures for the maintenance and enhancement of forest biodiversity within the framework of the Criteria & Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management Processes as well as national, regional and global biodiversity, climate and forest strategies.

However, it is difficult to define the concrete forest biodiversity status and the targets/thresholds/ranges to be aimed for at various levels. The dynamics of forest development and the diversity of forest types make a clear definition of objectives difficult. The application and evaluation of measures to promote biodiversity, and of indicators to monitor the related progress are thus challenging.

Also aligning or developing forest biodiversity indicators to support the investigation of new or emerging issues such as forest resilience is accompanied by a range of technical issues and implementation challenges.

Therefore, the IUFRO Working Party 9.01.05 proposes a session on Forest Biodiversity Indicators. This session will focus on new research undertaken in this area and give the IUFRO science community and associated policy makers and stakeholders the opportunity to share experiences and learnings.

We encourage presentations and poster covering various forest-related biodiversity indicators (e.g.species, structure, genetics, soil biodiversity, ecosystems) at various levels (stand, national, regional, global) and also encourage presentations and poster on new techniques of monitoring the development of forest biodiversity (e.g. remote).

Organized by: Helga Pülzl , Metodi Sotirov, Georg Winkel

The European Commission, the Council of the European Union representing the EU Member States and the European Parliament as the three main EU policymakers have recently decided upon many new forest-related policy targets. For example, the European Green Deal asks for no net GHG emissions by 2050 and decoupling economic growth from resource use while leaving no one behind, the EU Forest Strategy to 2030 highlights forest biodiversity protection, increased forest resilience and carbon storage
while supporting a forest-based bioeconomy. The EU Renewable Energy Directive proposes a target increase for more bioenergy, while at the same time the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 suggests protecting 30% of EU’s land, including 10% of strict protected areas also in forests and to plant 3 billion trees in line with biodiversity standards and the EU nature restoration law aims to restore 20% of EU (forest) land by 2030. Conflicts and diverging paradigmatic views on how and by whom forests are to be governed lead to calls for strengthening EU forest-related policy coherence and coordination. This is not only during decision-making itself, but also in the implementation process where increased institutional complexity and trade-offs between targets are to be dealt with. While forests themselvesare increasingly under threat in view of the climate and biodiversity crises, societal demands for protection of forest biodiversity clash with using wood for long-term carbon storage, energy purposes and generating new and fossil-free materials.

The technical session therefore asks the following questions:

• What is the “new and politicized” role of forests in the European Union policy-making process? Which narratives and frames are prevailing alongside forests while others are lost in transition?
• How are forests perceived both in the EU institutions, member states and by society?
• What role does power play with the increasing institutional complexity and diverging actors perception in governing EU forests?
• What trade-offs and synergies exist between forest policies across sectors (e.g., forestry, biodiversity, climate, bioenergy) and levels (EU, national, local), and why?

Organized by: Todora Rogelja, Ivana Zivojinovic, Laura Secco, Maria Nijnik, Simo Sarkki, Gerhard Weiss, Elaine Parlade,
Alice Ludvig, Mariana Melnykovych, Elena Pisani

• How does the process of social and institutional innovations roll out on the ground?
• Whether and how they are differently applied in different regions?
• What is crucial for the institutionalization and scaling of innovative initiatives in the forest-based sector?
• How to scale institutional and social innovations to ensure the transition to a more sustainable, green, and just society?
• How social and institutional innovations can be integrated?

Organized by: Ida Wallin , Todora Rogelja, Stephen Wyatt, Maureen Reed, Barbara Öllerer, Theresa Klara Loch, Janette Bulkan, Ana L. Violato Espada, Ana Carolina C. Vieira Vieira, Barbara Bomfim, Gun Lidestav, Alice Ludvig, Teppo Hujala, Ivana Zivojinovic

• Past & Present – Practice in the Tropics: The practice of women’s inclusion andparticipation in the forest sectors including sub-themes as gender equity and its benefitsin land use and ownership; and other related themes. Perspectives of sustainable societieswhose nature-based solutions include gender diversity in all stages, from decisionmakingand planning to implementation and monitoring.
• Present – Governance and grass-root initiatives: This theme sets out to explore differentinitiatives, practices and articulations; their specific and situated outcomes; and theimplications for forests, people, power and knowledge. By learning from the communityand contextual differences we enhance our understanding of, and recommendations for,gender equality and diversity policy development and implementations.
• Future – Education for a better future:: The future of forestry is dependent on acompetent workforce with the knowledge and capacities to successfully deal with thepressing issues of the 21st century including the climate crisis, environmental injustice,and inequality. This theme focuses on initiatives and experiences of improving Justice,Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) in forest education worldwide.