Bos- en Natuurbeleid Groep, Wageningen University

🚨 We are thrilled to announce the release of the open access book "Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development: Policies, Practices, Impacts, and Ways Forward,” of which Georg Winkel is one of the editors and Agata A. Konczal contributed to the 2nd chapter on early woodland restoration and how it shapes postmodern options. 📗 This comprehensive volume published with Oxford University Press brings together a multidisciplinary perspective to explore the vast opportunities and intricate challenges of forest restoration in the face of global environmental threats. The book examines forest restoration commitments and policies, assesses planning and implementation methods at various scales, and highlights how reforestation efforts can mitigate an array of environmental, societal, and cultural issues. Using the insights from the ten topic-focused chapters, the book delves into the benefits and synergies that forest restoration can generate, while also addressing the costs, trade-offs, and varying feasibility of these essential initiatives. 🌳 Incorporating insights from historical and contemporary practices worldwide, this publication stands as a crucial resource for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners engaged in forest restoration. The book covers a diverse array of topics including the historical context of forest restoration, governance and justice issues, regional restoration efforts, and the socio-ecological impacts of reforestation initiatives. As we look to achieve ambitious international forest restoration targets and commitments, this book not only presents valuable knowledge but also encourages reflection on sustainable and just approaches needed for future restoration efforts. 👉 Find the book here to understand the path forward in restoring our planet's vital forest ecosystems: https://lnkd.in/e7Artanm

🌿 Learn more about the untapped potential of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) for conservation and rural development in São Tomé and Príncipe! This new paper by Lorenz Schimetka and Verina Ingram sheds light on the harvest, trade, and use of native tree species like Baobab, African plum and African breadfruit. By employing a value chain-landscape nexus approach and engaging with key stakeholders through surveys, expert interviews, and marketplace observations, they uncover the significant economic contributions of these seasonal products, which primarily reach the capital. However, the road to sustainable NWFP harvesting is paved with challenges. The findings highlight the critical gaps in statutory and customary governance that threaten the potential of NWFPs to support Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) initiatives. This calls for a deeper dive into the governance structures to ensure the alignment of trade practices with conservation goals. Want to know more? Read the full article to explore how socio-economic benefits can be combined with sustainable forest restoration. 🌳 Find the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eZM6aYtr #Forestry #SustainableDevelopment #Research #FLR #NWFPs

"The EU's vision for wilderness could lead to social and ecological injustice." 🎉 Congratulations to Iordachescu George on receiving a prestigious €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant! George will lead a project exploring the impacts of strict nature protection policies in marginal mountain regions of Europe. Together with three postdocs and a research assistant, he will investigate why the EU has chosen strict conservation measures in four regions and how these policies affect the relationship between people and the #environment. His research will focus on the social and ecological justice challenges that arise from the EU's goal to implement wilderness areas on 10% of Europe’s land by 2030. In areas like the southern Carpathians, central Apennines, Cantabrian mountains, and the Bieszczady region of Poland, local communities face potential job losses, displacement, and loss of traditional knowledge—all critical issues for both #sustainable development and #biodiversity conservation. By combining anthropology, historical research, and policy analysis, George’s project will deepen our understanding of how strict conservation policies shape human-environment relations and create frameworks for alternative approaches to nature conservation.

The population of wolves in the Netherlands is growing, which sparks a debate on how we can best live together with wolves and which measures should be taken to reduce conflict between wolves and humans. Between March and June 2024, four FNP thesis students separately examined how people perceive human-wolf coexistence and related policy-making from local to national lenses. While presence of the wolf certainly comes with challenges, the results of these four theses show that for many directly involved people the issue is not about whether to have wolves in the Netherlands or not, but rather about finding pragmatic and acceptable solutions for coexistence. While it will remain a challenge to find solutions that are feasible and sufficient for the different stakeholders, the results suggest that there is interest and openness for finding compromises. One important recommendation is that the experiences and emotions of those coexisting with wolves, whether positive or negative, are highly relevant and should be considered in management plans. Each thesis project is described by the students themselves in this blog, which goes more into detail about perceptions of local inhabitants, national lobbying dynamics and Dutch media coverage: https://lnkd.in/e_pyxhV8

Currently enjoying the inspiration from 21 PhD candidates in our PhD Summerschool on Human-Nature Relationships for Transformative Change. Including two days of outdoor learning, sessions on grief and hope, exploration of inner transformations and extensive dialoges on transformative pathways, from systemic to more structural approaches.

🚨 30 September is the deadline of submission for the Birgit Elands Thesis Award on Human-Nature Relationships 2023-2024! If you have supervised or written a thesis that is eligible, don't miss out on this chance and send it in here: https://lnkd.in/e36XfWEB! 🌿 We accept theses on a wide range of topics within the general scope of human-nature relationships, including studies related to nature and health, nature-positive design, green activism, cultural practices, humans and forests, nature-based learning, transformative research, and more. 🏆 The award is given by the Bos- en Natuurbeleid Groep, Wageningen University, Staatsbosbeheer and Stichting NatuurCollege. The prize consists of a tree to be planted at the Wageningen Food Forest and 1000 euros. In addition to the main prize, a special prize will be awarded this year to mark the Dutch 'Year of the Forest' for the most inspiring thesis on trees, forests or forest management. 👥 The jury consists of Arjen Buijs (WU-FNP), Marjolein Kloek (Staatsbosbeheer), Karin Peters (WU-GEO) and Paul Roncken 🙌🌳🤞 (NatuurCollege) #thesis #award #humannaturerelationships #transformativechange

📣 Very exciting news! Iordachescu George has acquired a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to research how the strict protection of biodiversity in Europe’s marginal areas affects human-environment relations. ⛰ George's project will focus on four regions that are often overlooked in academic debates: the Southern Carpathians in Romania, the Central Apennines in Italy, the Central Cantabrians in Spain, and the Bieszczady in Southeast Poland. The project explores new analytical frameworks to understand the European conservation frontiers arising from the history of land use in these areas and current political relations in Europe. George focuses on the question of how the EU’s green growth vision produces non-intervention zones of strictly protected biodiversity-rich and carbon-rich areas. 👏 Many congratulations to George and we wish him all the best with his research! https://lnkd.in/ejiF476m

🌱 The first edition of our brand-new newsletter is out! It features announcements of interesting events, a video on nature-inclusive learning, recommended scientific publications and much more. Be sure to subscribe and stay updated on the most important developments, featured events and opportunities of our group every three months!

📝🌳 We're happy to share the latest publication by Wenyuan Liang, Bas Arts and colleagues, which delves into the evolving landscape of forest governance in China's southern provinces. This study contributes to a nuanced framework for understanding forest decentralization and recentralization and explores the dynamics between decentralization and recentralization within the Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) and the rise of Ecological Civilization since 2012. The findings reveal a shift towards recentralizing power for environmental conservation, highlighting the complex interplay of discourses, actors, property rights, and power in forest governance. The study underscores the challenges and uncertainties in balancing property rights protection and environmental sustainability through recentralization policies. By providing a nuanced understanding of these policy shifts, this work aims to inform more effective forest governance strategies that support both community empowerment and conservation goals. Find the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e-BJCXej #ForestGovernance #EnvironmentalPolicy #ChinaResearch #SustainableForestry

Find here the new paper by Bas Arts and Bob Kreiken on access and benefit sharing of genetic biodiversity in the digital era. Analysis is based on argumentative discourse analysis of multilateral agenda-setting, negotiations and decision-making. https://lnkd.in/eS_ayRa5