Forest Science Symposium to look at role of research

The Forest Science Symposium strives to provide an opportunity for the southern African forest research community (ie. researchers and interested research technicians, area and regional managers and silvicultural managers) to interact and share knowledge around the work being carried out across the country. It has also provided an opportunity for researchers who have already presented their work at recent international conferences (during the last two years) to present their findings to their peers.

Partnership with Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

The theme for this year's Symposium is "Risks to sustainable plantation forestry in southern Africa: The role of research". This theme together with these two special events will all form part of the symposium programme. Four plenary speakers have been confirmed with Professor Mike Wingfield (FABI), Dr Andrew Morris (Sappi), Professor Colin Dyer (ICFR) and Viv McMenamin (Mondi) will all give keynote addresses at the symposium.

For the second time in the history of the symposium, the event is to be co-hosted with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, allowing for a more regional focus. An invitation has been extended to those working at forest research organisations and relevant academic institutions north of South Africa, reaching into southern and south-eastern countries.

This year, the event is also partnering with the journal Southern Forests, and there will be a special category for the submission of papers of new work (not previously published), which will be considered for inclusion in the Journal. Dr Andrew Morris, the journal's editor will be on the Science Committee to manage this process.

For more information, contact Sally Upfold (Symposium Organiser) at az.ca.nzku.rfci@dlofpu.yllas.