CoP ForestDSS News March 2014

28
Mar
03.28.2014 |
hvacik
Harald Vacik's picture

This is the first newsletter to be sent to all registered members of the Community of Practice (CoP) on Forest Management Decision Support Systems. Our intention is to send on a regular basis a summary of the recent developments in the CoP and about the upcoming events.

Annual Meeting of CoP in Lisbon

At the last annual meeting of the CoP at the Decision Support System Workshop for Sustainable Forest Management and Policy Advice in Lisbon it was possible to agree on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the modalities and organisation of the work within the ForestDSS Community of Practice (CoP). The attending members agreed on the terms of reference and the members of Working Committee presented their planned activities for the next year.  At the meeting Harald Vacik was nominated as coordinator of the ForestDSS CoP for the next year and Ola Eriksson has been nominated as a vice coordinator for supporting the steering of the CoP.  The members of the Working Committee of the CoP are responsible for drafting their workplans for the activities - the responsibilities and tasks of the different groups in the CoP are defined in the MoU. The adopted version of the MoU can found on the CoP website. (http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/sites/default/files/ForestDSS_CoP_MoU_12_2013.pdf )

A report on the Decision Support System Workshop for Sustainable Forest Management and Policy Advice is available in the recent IUFRO news. The IUFRO bulletin reports on the activities during the workshop, the computer lab sessions and the first meeting of the ForestDSS User group.
please check out: http://www.iufro.org/publications/news/electronic-news/io-news-1401/

A detailed documentation about the workshop including a reference to the presentations and computer lab sessions given can be found on the Cop website. The presentations were recorded and are therefore available as video-lectures as well: http://forestdss.org/CoP/community/successful-meeting-cop-lisbon

Forestdss.org website

In the first weeks of the launch of the new Community of Practice Website we had a great start with regard to the number of registered users. More than 80 members are currently registered on the website (http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/search/node?qt-search_results=4#qt-search_results) which is a great start! In the next weeks a number of additional functionalities will be added to the community website, which should allow members to explore the content more easily and add material and resources. Please check out the website for announcements via the news and events pages (http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/content/community-news) or follow the latest discussions at the community pages (http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/community). The list of publications is steadily growing and allows a good overview about forest DSS related papers (http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/publications). The most recent papers will be highlighted on the front page of the CoP.

Upcoming conferences and meetings

There are several meetings scheduled this year, which would allow the members of the CoP to meet physically in a council meeting as a side event of the planned conferences. At least three options are listed below, where the members of the CoP are warmly welcomed to participate:

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) organizes its 24th IUFRO World Congress in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA in October 5-11, 2014 (www.iufro2014.com). The CoP on Forest Management Decision Support Systems will organize the session "Providing Ecosystem Services under Climate Change - Community of Practice of Forest Decision Support Systems" at the congress.

http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/events/iufro-world-congress

The Technical University in Zvolen and the University of Lisbon invites you to the Second International Scientific Conference on Implementation of DSS Tools into the Forestry Practice from 18-20.09.2014 in Zvolen, Slovakia (http://gis.tuzvo.sk/dssfm2014/). The conference will focus on topics related to uncertainty, risk and the human dimension in adaptive forest management and under climate change. The CoP will organize a Council Meeting as a side event of the conference:

http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/events/implementation-dss-forestry-practice

The IFORS Barcelona conference (http://www.ifors2014.org/) will be held from 13-18 July 2014 in the city of Barcelona, in the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Several presentations from CoP members will focus on forest related topics at the conference, which will allow participants to meet and discuss the ongoing trends in OR.

http://www.forestdss.org/CoP/events/ifors-conference-barcelona

Call for papers in “Forests”

A Special Issue in the scientific journal “Forests” will provide an overview regarding how Decision Support Systems (DSS) are currently designed and applied for the sustained provision of ecosystem services within the context of climate change. The issue will include overviews on models, methods, techniques, and frameworks. This SI will allow presenters at the CoP session at the IUFRO World congress to publish their paper. A limited number of papers is intended to be included in the SI even when you are not able to participate in the congress. The deadline for the submission of your full paper is November 2014. So in case that you have an interest to contribute with your scientific work to the SI then please let us (harald.vacik@boku.ac.at) know by e-mail until end of April 2014 about you interest, so that we can organize the outline of the SI. For more details on the call for the Special issue please check out:

http://forestdss.org/CoP/blog/call-papers-forests

The Community of Practice on Forest Management Decision Support Systems is intending to establish a network of activities carried out at national and regional level for supporting the partnership and promote transnational collaborations. In case that you want to promote your DSS related activities via the CoP and want to exchange your knowledge with the other members, so please do not hesitate to contact us, in order to support you.

 

we looking forward a fruitful future collaboration

Harald Vacik & Ola Eriksson