The Global Sustainability Summer School 2012

From July 8-21 the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), in partnership with the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), will host The Global Sustainability Summer School 2012.

35 young professionals from universities, governmental and non-governmental agencies and industry from all over the world will meet at IASS and PIK to explore and discuss globally pressing sustainability issues such as risks from dangerous climate change, extreme events and urgent societal and economic responses. The program will comprise lectures, field trips and interactive project activities. Lecturers will come from all three institutions but also include other leading international scientists as well as politicians and key representatives of civil society. The Summer School, located in the inspirational scientific environment of Potsdam and in proximity to vibrant Berlin, will promote the exchange among participants and foster international cooperation. The Global Sustainability Summer School 2012 has been made possible due to the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Applicants from all countries are welcome. Application deadline is March 1st, 2012. For more information please visit: www.gsss-potsdam.org

European Forests: Central to the World We Live in

Call for Ideas: Greening the Forest Sector Engineering with ICT

The call is open to all kinds of ideas related to green ICT engineering in the forest sector. We expect most of the applicants to be scientists within engineering and forest sciences, but the call is open to anyone. Knowledge of the state-of-the-art within engineering and forest sciences is not a prerequisite as the expert panel will ensure the quality assessment.

You can download the entire call text from HERE

Conference of the Operating Systems Centre of Advanced Research

OSCAR2 Conference

Riga, Latvia, Oct 24-26, 2012

On behalf of the Latvia State Forest Research Institute “Silava” and the OSCAR₂ management committee we are very pleased to announce that the next OSCAR research conference will be held in Riga, Latvia in the Days Hotel Riga on October 24-26, 2012.

Call for abstracts:

Please submit your abstracts of max. 2 pages (~700 words) by email until April 30, 2012. Only the extended abstracts will be published in the proceedings, leaving you free to publish your full manuscript elsewhere. Themes for abstracts are not limited; examples of the topics to present in the conference are:

ñ Machine and machine-systems performance analysis;

ñ Process modelling and control;

ñ Transport and materials handling;

ñ Geographical information – modelling and interpretation;

ñ Ergonomics, the work environment and safety;

ñ Small scale and urban forestry operations;

ñ Supply chain management and associated methods & technologies;

ñ Environmental impacts, energy and emissions;

ñ Entrepreneurs, business process engineering and quality assurance;

ñ Mechanization of silvicultural operations;

ñ Technologies for plantation forests and short rotation woody crops;

ñ Mobilization of wood resources.

More information is available in the conference website.

Contact persons: Andis Lazdiņš & Dagnija Lazdiņa

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Latvia State Forest Research Institute «Silava»
Riga street 111, Salaspils, LV-2169
Phone: +37126595586 (+37126595683)
Fax: +37167901359

Email: andis.lazdins@silava.lv (dagnija.lazdina@silava.lv)
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Conference website: http://sites.google.com/site/oscarconference2012/

OSCAR: http://www.skogforsk.se/sv/Om-oss/Samverkan/Oscar/

Conference venue: http://www.dayshotelriga.com/

Riga tourism information: http://www.liveriga.com/en/

Latvia State Forest Research Institute «Silava»: http://www.silava.lv

Training School – Work study methodologies for wood energy supply chains from forest thinnings

We are glad to announce the 4th Training School of Cost Action FP0902 on:

"Work study methodologies for wood energy supply chains from forest thinnings"

Mendel University, Brno – Mar.25^th- Apr.1^st, 2012

Objectives:

The 4th COST Training School will focus on wood energy supply chains from forest thinnings. Thinning is a silvicultural treatment where a proportion of the trees are removed to improve growth of remaining trees. However, this harvested material can be efficiently used as an energy source. The training school will deal with methods of harvesting trees in thinnings, methods of extraction, seasoning and processing into usable wood fuel. As much as possible will be demonstrated directly in the University’s forest. This event is hosted and organized by: Mendel University in Brno with close co-operation of University Forest Enterprise Masaryk Forest in Křtiny.

Programme outline:

March 25th, Sun:

Arrival at Mendel University, Brno and transfer to Křtiny March

26th, Mon: Morning:

Welcome, lessons structure, terminology and materials, Afternoon: field trip demonstrating practices in thinning, extraction and processing of available energy sources

March 27th, Tue:

Harvesting bioenergy from young dense stands

March 28th, Wed:

Large and small scale extraction methods and processing

March 29th, Thu:

Time studies and their relation to logistics

March 30th, Fri:

Methods of estimating moisture content along the supply chain

March 31st, Sat:

Conference and Trade Fair Exhibition

April 1st, Sun:

Departure

You can download the full announcement from HERE

Or check the FOREST ENERGY PORTAL for more information

European Forest Sector Outlook Study II

Another more recently published report is the EFSOS II (European Forest Sector Outlook Study II) that for the first time have included forest biomass for energy in their scenarios.

The report can be downloaded at:

http://www.unece.org/forests-welcome/areas-of-work/forestsoutlookwelcome/forestsoutlookoutputsmop1/efsos-ii-2010-2030.html

EUwood - Real potential for changes in growth and use of EU forests

The EU-wood project(Real potential for changes in growth and use of EU forests) presented their final report in 2010 indicating a shortage of wood in Europe due to a growing biomass market for energy. Their final report can be downloaded from the link below:

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/studies/bioenergy_en.htm