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]

SLU, Faculty of Natural Resorces and Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala is offering a position as Professor in Insect Ecology. Focus : the ecology and dynamics of insect populations. Basic understanding of the population processes affecting distribution and abundance and how these processes interact with changing environmental conditions. Understanding of how population growth can be controlled is also central. Application deadline: 9 May 2014. [more]

Based in Accra, Ghana, the programme officer will be responsible for communicating the professional role and potential of the 2015 World Forestry Congress (in Durban, South Africa) to countries in the region, including through the FAO Regional Forestry Commissions. [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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