Hosted by The Forest School at Yale School of the Environment (YSE) in collaboration with The Forests Dialogue (TFD).
The series focuses on large-scale planted forests for fiber and wood products, in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation, prospects for innovation, and strategies for meeting environmental and societies varied needs. The speaker series features a wide range of experts to discuss the future role of planted forests in addressing urgent needs related to climate, resources, and societal and environmental challenges at regional and global scales. Speakers represent forestry, academia, forest products industry, investment, conservation, Indigenous and forest-based communities, and climate science.
Planted forests, including tree plantations established for wood production, continue to grow in both extent and significance. Tree plantations currently provide almost half of the world’s commercial wood supply, a proportion expected to increase significantly in coming decades. Yet they represent only a fraction of the worlds tree cover. They also have great potential to deliver environmental services and social benefits. However, many aspects of planted forests have been and remain controversial, with concerns that associated environmental and social costs can outweigh economic and other benefits.
This seminar is the third YFF series focused on the Future Role of Forest Products in a Changing Climate. The first in the series covered issues related to mass timber; the second was on bioenergy. The next seminar in the series will focus on pulp and paper.
YFF Review
The YFF Review publication summarizes the findings and learnings from all of the presentations from this speaker series, and it is free and open to the public.