3rd ICP Forests Scientific Conference

segnalato da Marco Ferretti

Impact of nitrogen deposition and ozone on the climate change mitigation potential and sustainability of European forests 

26-28 May 2014, Athens, Greece 

First announcement and call for abstracts

Background 

European forest ecosystems represent an important component of the terrestrial carbon sink and provide a variety of services which are based on the sustainability of forest and their management.

Since 1985, the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) operating under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution is collecting data on forest condition (health, growth, biodiversity, nutrition) and environmental factors (air chemistry, deposition chemistry, meteorology) across Europe. These data is used by a large number of scientists working on different policy relevant research questions, including those raised in this conference.

Invitation

The conference addresses the role of environmental stressors, in particular tropospheric ozone and nitrogen deposition, on the ability of European forests to sequester carbon and on the long-term sustainability of their health, productivity, diversity, and ability to provide ecosystem services.

It is aimed to scientists and experts from the ICP Forests in particular and the UNECE ICPs community in general (e.g., ICP on Integrated Monitoring, ICP Vegetation, ICP Modelling and Mapping, ICP Waters), their partners and respective stakeholders, as well as interested scientists and experts from related fields. Researchers engaged in successful projects, evaluations and modeling exercises based on ICP Forests data, or working in co-operation with ICP Forests are encouraged to present and discuss their work and results.

Main topics 

• Past, actual, and predicted impact of nitrogen deposition and ozone (and their combination) on growth, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity and the full set of ecosystem services provided by forests
• Past, actual, and predicted impact of other biotic and abiotic stressors and their interactions 

Conference structure 

The conference will be organized in sessions with keynote speakers. Standard (15 min), short (5 min) and flash (1 min) presentations are envisaged to permit the largest spread of information. A poster session is notional. Authors of posters will have the opportunity to present their work through flash (1 min) presentations within the oral sessions.

Targets

Policy and outreach. The conference will provides an overview on the latest research in policy relevant fields, such as the impact of air pollution on the climate change mitigation potential of Europeans forests, as well as on nutrient and water cycles, biodiversity, and forest health and vitality.

Scientific platform. A comprehensive platform is offered for scientists working on the subjects to discuss scientific questions and share experiences.

Data provider and user interface. The conference will link monitoring experts, researchers and modelers. Data users will benefit from background information related to the data sets. Data providers will profit from an advanced insight into latest statistical applications based on “their” data.

Expected outputs 

A Special Issue on an ISI journal is being negotiated. Press releases based on key results as well as technical summaries are being considered.

Scientific Committee 

Marco Ferretti (TerraData environmetrics, Italy, chair), Michael Köhl (chairman of the ICP Forests, University of Hamburg, Germany), Nathalie Cools (INBO, Belgium), Karin Hansen (IVL, Sweden), Nenad Potočić (Croatian Forest Research Institute), Marcus Schaub (WSL, Switzerland)

Contacts 

Walter Seidling, Head of PCC, ICP Forests, walter.seidling@ti.bund.de; Marco Ferretti, Chair of the Scientific Committee, ferretti@terradata.it

Time schedule 

30 January 2014: 2nd announcement (with logistics and abstract guidelines)

28 February 2014: Abstract submission

25 March 2014: Confirmation for speakers

15 April 2014: Deadline for regular online registration

15 May 2014: Deadline for late registration

26 May 2014: Reception

27 May 2014: Conference

28 May 2014: Combined excursion of Scientific Conference and Task Force Meeting