The SUPERB & IUFRO Forest Restoration Talks investigate forest restoration questions from diverse scientific perspectives, with alternating focus on the global and European levels. The series brings together researchers, practitioners, NGOs, policy makers and other interested stakeholders to explore practical forest restoration approaches experiences and challenges worldwide.
You can find the complete schedule of the upcoming events below. To watch our previous webinars, click here.
Join the Rewilding Community of Practice’s seminar on the role of fascinating fungi in rewilding our planet.
We will host this virtual community gathering on the topic ‘Fascinating Fungi: Invisible Allies in Rewilding’ on Tuesday, the 22nd of November at 5:00PM CET/4:00PM GMT/8AM PST. The duration of the event will be of 90 minutes.
The Rewilding Community of Practice aims to build a network of rewilding enthusiasts and professionals who can exchange ideas and information to help build a better world.
This is a fantastic opportunity for rewilders to learn more about the incredible role fungi play in rewilding – and how to rewild mycological networks – from three experienced practitioners who work on turning these invisible allies into a visible force for good.
We hope you will join us in our effort to scale our collective impact and rewild our planet!
The Speakers
David Satori (Rewilding Mycology), Michael J. Hathaway (World Matsutake Research Group – Simon Fraser University), Bethan Manley (SPUN).
David Satori, Founder of Rewilding Mycology
David Satori is a mycologist, consultant, and founder of Rewilding Mycology. He holds an MSc in Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, Diversity, and Conservation and is a former Species Conservation Researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where he contributed to IUCN Red List assessments of tropical plant species.
David has extensive experience in designing fungal surveys, generating baseline data, and recognizing opportunities for fungal conservation on sites with various land use histories. He draws from his experience at Kew Gardens, where he managed large databases on plant documentation, distribution, population trends, and threats. He will introduce the field of rewilding mycology, highlight the importance of science being fungi-inclusive and discuss recent strides in the field.
Michael Hathaway, Professor at World Matsutake Research Group – Simon Fraser University
Michael Hathaway is a cultural anthropologist who has been working in China for over a quarter century on two major topics. His first project explored how global conservation programs were re-configured by Chinese scientists, villagers, and wild animals (such as Asian elephants), and his second examines the role of fungi in reshaping economies and ecologies on a vast scale.
He will speak about a mindset shift the world urgently needs: a shift from viewing other organisms as objects of utility (as things to be eaten, commodified or even used in rewilding projects) to fellow beings that are also world makers. What might it mean to recognize the presence and power of fungi all around us, especially from this different perspective?, he asks.
Bethan Manley, Program Manager Global Data Science at SPUN
Bethan began studying underground fungal networks during a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge examining Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and their genetic interactions with crop plants. She has since continued work on the genomics of symbiotic fungi as a Postdoctoral Researcher, and worked as a Senior Computer Biologist at the Sanger Institute, UK, on the Tree of Life Project that aims to sequence all eukaryotic species on Earth.
Bethan now works for SPUN | Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, a non-profit initiative that aims to map, understand, and conserve underground mycorrhizal fungal networks. She will speak about the awe-inspiring work the SPUN team does of mapping underground mycorrhizal networks that regulate the Earth’s climate, and the advocacy and innovation work the organization does to protect and preserve our underground fungi kingdom.
Targeting researchers, practitioners, NGOs, policy makers and other interested stakeholders, the webinar series will investigate forest restoration questions from diverse scientific perspectives, with alternating focus on the global and European levels. This includes exploring practical forest restoration approaches, experiences and challenges worldwide.
Taking place on Wednesday, 14 December from 16:00-17:30 CET, the second webinar on 14 December, when KU Leuven professor Bart Muys will discuss “Biodiversity as a key asset for forest restoration in Europe“!
Targeting researchers, practitioners, NGOs, policy makers and other interested stakeholders, the webinar series will investigate forest restoration questions from diverse scientific perspectives, with alternating focus on the global and European levels. This includes exploring practical forest restoration approaches, experiences and challenges worldwide.
Taking place on Wednesday, 9 November from 16:00-17:30 CET, the first webinar features forest restoration specialistJohn Stanturf as a speaker, discussing the topic “If nature is the solution, what is the problem? A perspective from forest landscape restoration”.
Following webinars will take place every second Wednesday of the month at the same time. Save the date for the second webinar on 14 December, when KU Leuven professor Bart Muys will discuss “Biodiversity as a key asset for forest restoration in Europe“!
Unlocking large-scale land restoration practices, approaches, and benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa
Regreening Africa is an ambitious programme running from 2017-2023 that aims to reverse land degradation on 1 million hectares across 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Regreening Africa integrates trees into crop and communal areas along with complementary restoration practices and approaches to enhance inclusion, value chains, policy, and local governance. Five years into implementation, Regreening Africa would like to share its experience and lessons through a roundtable event with all partners.
The Regreening Africa Roundtable will have three sessions:
Session 1: Scaling out context-based practices
What practices will work where and how can we encourage widespread uptake? These are the questions to be addressed in this session as we investigate the many sustainable land management practices in the project and the approaches to scale them out. We will also investigate the impact of both the advisory models and the practices through preliminary impact evaluation results.
Session 2: Regreening Africa science-practice-policy partnership
Integrating data from science and practical experience is critical for improving our planning, implementation, and the policy environment. In this session we explore how community, government, scientists, and development partners worked together and what they have been able to create. We explore examples of integrating scientific data from multiple sources, how partners have been brought together to create initiatives and movements and how we consistently reflected, learnt, and improved the programme over time.
Session 3: Economic and policy incentives
Incentives are known to be a critical driver of landscape restoration and any sustainable land use transition. Farmers and pastoralists are the ones who bring about change on the ground and they must see the benefits. Incentives can come in different forms, but two critical incentives are linked to livelihoods, the economic benefits and to ownership and rights. In this session we explore two examples of value chains and cases of where engagement with policymakers has made practices more accepted and where tree use rights have been enhanced.
Date and time: 6 September 2022, 13:00-17:00 (EAT)
The Eden Festival of Action is an environmental action gathering combining practical ecosystem restoration work like tree-planting, with a full line-up of workshops, talks and activities from sustainability experts. The evenings are filled with campfire sessions, storytelling and music from some of South Africa’s finest musicians.
The event aims to create an empowered regenerative community, equipping you to become custodians of the natural world, moving from commitment to action!
Join our 7-day sustainability experience this October 2022 and create real, long-term environmental impact.
The Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology (Agroecology TPP) is delighted to launch its very first Community of Practice (CoP) Activation Workshop, which will take place on 13 September at 3pm CEST.
The 90-minute session is open to all agroecology enthusiasts, including those who are present members of the CoP. The workshop will help guide you through numerous functionalities of the GLFx platform on which the CoP is hosted, shed light on the scope and purpose of our vibrant and growing community of agroecology enthusiasts, provide a wealth of real-life examples of the CoP features, and explain how to join the CoP to all new members. There will also be plenty of time to ask all of your burning questions and engage in a fruitful discussion about a common vision of our CoP.
By joining the Agroecology TPP’s CoP, you will be able to share as well as get related news and ideas, have a meaningful conversation with a like-minded and knowledgeable group of people, ask direct questions to scientists and explore a wide range of resources on the topic. Hosted by the Global Landscapes Forum (GLFx), the CoP provides an opportunity to connect and learn from each other, develop co-created knowledge, and stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the field.
The Global Environment Facility is a unique multilateral fund supporting biodiversity protection, nature restoration, and climate change response in developing countries.
This week, GEF council – the fund’s governing body – will meet to evaluate and adopt work programs that benefit nature and humanity.
The 62nd meeting will be the final council of GEF-7, closing out the four-year funding cycle, as well as kicking-off the GEF-8 cycle. It takes place after donors pledged record support for GEF-8 in April and comes on the heels of a series of international meetings including: UNCCD COP15, Stockholm+50, and BRS COPs.
The Global Environment Facility is a country-driven organization that was founded on the principles of collaboration and partnership. For the last thirty years, the GEF has worked with global partners to catalyze progress toward protecting nature, adapting to climate change, and promoting sustainable development.
The Global Summit is a community-powered event for and by rainforest guardians and environmental champions, in celebration of World Rainforest Day. Join (or reconnect with) our community as we celebrate the progress made for forests, hear from those at the forefront of the mission, and explore the ways in which different industries and actors can show up for rainforests. In addition to a full day of exciting events, there will be ample networking opportunities for all on our interactive platform.
Our 2022 theme is The Time is Now. There are countless initiatives driving the impact rainforests need; the Summit will revolve around solutions being pioneered and implemented today. We know where we need to be; let’s explore what the path there looks like. The time to act is now.
The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will take place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022.
The COP15 theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity’, is a call to action to ensure land, the lifeline on this planet, continues to benefit present and future generations.
COP15 will bring together leaders from governments, the private sector, civil society and other key stakeholders from around the world to drive progress in the future sustainable management of one of our most precious commodities: land.
Land is the bedrock of a healthy, productive society, and COP15 will explore links between land and other key sustainability issues. These issues will be discussed during the high-level segment on 9-10 May 2022, including a Heads of States Summit, high-level roundtables and interactive dialogue sessions, as well as numerous other special and side events.
COP 15 is a key moment in the fight against desertification, land degradation and drought. It will build on the findings of the second edition of the Global Land Outlook and offer a concrete response to the interconnected challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss as we step into the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Drought, land restoration, and related enablers such as land rights, gender equality and youth empowerment are among the top items on the Conference agenda. Through its decisions adopted by UNCCD’s 197 Parties, COP15 is expected to galvanize sustainable solutions for land restoration and drought resilience, with a strong focus on future-proofing land use.
