The Collaborative Partnership on Forests and the Government of Finland held a well-attended side event on integrating forests in the sustainable development goals (SDGs), on the fringes of the 8th Open Working Group meeting at UN Headquarters in New York. CPF Chairperson Eduardo Rojas-Briales and H.E. Jarmo Viinanen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN, opened the session explaining the interconnectedness and importance of forests to other issues being discussed in the SDGs – namely oceans, biodiversity and mountains. Participants noted the complexity of integrating forest issues in the SDGs, but noted that with coherent and incentivized goals, forests targets could be included in future SDGs. CPF members will soon issue a document with proposed forest targets, indicators and other background material. [more]

The World Agroforestry Centre and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, together with the Indian Society of Agroforestry and Global Initiatives, will hold the Congress in Delhi, India 10-14 February 2014.The Congress, entitled ‘Trees for Life: Accelerating the Impacts of Agroforestry’ , will draw over 1200 selected participants from the private, research and development sectors to share the current state of knowledge and accelerate the positive financial, environmental and social impacts of agroforestry. [more]

Istanbul, Turkey : CPF Chair and FAO Forestry Assistant Director-General Eduardo Rojas-Briales presented the achievements and activities of the CPF this morning at the 10th session of the United Nations Forum on Forests. [more]

The Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University is offering a PhD position in Molecular host-pathogen interactions of aerial Phytophthora species in forest systems. Applicants should have a strong interest in molecular plant-pathogen interactions and forest pathology, and a first or upper second class BSc(Hons) or MSc degree in Molecular Plant Pathology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Microbiology or related discipline. Experience in microscopy, plant pathology, oomycete biology and genomics/transcriptomics/metabolomics would be an advantage. Application deadline: 12 April 2014. [more]

A postdoc‐position on operational methods on ecosystem services with focus on socialecological integration research is open at the Research Unit “Mountain Ecosystems” at IRSTEA (National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture) Grenoble, France) The project falls within the framework of EU FP7 OpenNESS project (http://www.opennessproject. eu/), which main aim is “to translate the concepts of Natural Capital (NC) and Ecosystem Services (ES) into operational frameworks that provide tested, practical and tailored solutions for integrating ES into land, water and urban management and decision‐making”. The successful candidate will have completed a PhD degree in one of the environmental sciences, have experience in the handling of spatial data from databases, literature and models, have knowledge of existing concepts of ecosystem services, and be able to place results in the context of complex environments. Expertise on valuation methods is needed as well as knowledge on biophysical components and related models. The candidate will need to have a mixed background in between ecology and socio‐economics. In particular, be able to work on cross cutting socioeconomic and biodiversity issues. It is expected that the candidate will extend knowledge about and contribute to the science‐policy‐public interface in the field of conservation with focus on sustainability science and ecosystem services. Knowledge on key regulatory frameworks that deal with ecosystem services implementation will be an advantage (e.g. GI, FP, RE, HD, BS, WFD, Natura 2000). Research Unit “Mountain Ecosystems” at National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA). Open until filled; position ideally to start on 1 May 2014. [more]

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A full-time research position is available at the Assistant Scientist II level (Ph.D.) in urban forestry/arboriculture in the Department of Forestry and Horticulture, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) in New Haven. The primary responsibility of this position is to develop and maintain a productive, externally-funded research program to sustain healthy urban/suburban forests and trees that could include identifying and remediating limiting factors (e.g., soil structure), urban forest dynamics, and roadside tree management. Facilities in the department and at CAES include greenhouses, research farms, and a laboratory. Application deadline: until position is filled. [more]

Natural Resources Canada is seeking a forest landscape ecologist to work on a multi-partner project examining and optimizing the sustainable supply of goods and services from forest ecosystems. The strategic goal is to support forest sector competitiveness while ensuring environmental sustainability and social license. The approach will use advanced remote sensing and geospatial technologies to i) develop and assess trends in forest and landscape indicators and ii) assess current and potential future forest landscapes for both economic and ecological integrity values. The post-doc will work in close collaboration with government, university and industry partners to achieve these objectives. Desired starting date: 1 April 2014. [more]