IUFRO's 125th Anniversary Congress was held in Freiburg, Germany, 18-22 September 2017. This event highlighted the framework of cooperation development in the field of forestry science. This paper stresses the importance of forest-related scientific research as the basis for sustainable development of forests worldwide. These studies play an irreplaceable role in deepening the understanding a wide variety of environmental, economic and social issues pertaining to forests. Therefore, developing cooperation among forestry researchers is of high societal value. In order to accomplish long-term sustainable development goals, forest researchers must also incorporate knowledge concerning biological, economic and social conditions within forests. In addition, the history of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) development was overviewed. The trends of forestry and the ways researchers' international cooperation increases the efficiency of studies was analyzed. Attention was paid to issues of IUFRO cooperation in the field of research and scientific knowledge dissemination among policy-makers, environmental and economic decision-makers. The features of IUFRO activity aimed at forest policy formulation and implementation in accordance with the requirements of the concept of sustainable forest management are revealed. Attention was focused on the problems that led to the creation of IUFRO, as well as its wide-ranging (organizational, publishing, educational, etc.) activities. IUFRO activities have achieved significant results in deepening understanding of forest ecosystem functioning, fulfilling of a wide range of functions including the provision of ecosystem services, preventing numerous destructive threats, showing the essence of multipurpose forestry and the methods of sustainable non-exhaustive forest management. Although new challenges have emerged as a result of societal transformations, the dramatic changes in the forestry sector have also led to interdisciplinary research cooperation development and new technologies implementation, especially in the field of communication. This paper discusses main themes, outcomes, achievements, new frontiers for forestry science and the take-home message of the IUFRO 125th Anniversary Congress. The paper also summarizes the outcomes of Ukrainian researchers'participation at this Congress: representative institutions, themes of presentations, co-organized session discussions etc. The themes, results, achievements, new frontiers and prospects for of forestry science development are analyzed. The results of Ukrainian scientists'participation in the work of the 125th Anniversary IUFRO Congress are summarized.
Read full abstract