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Final Program


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Presentation

Bioenergy, Climate Change, and Carbon

A Peek into Policy

Products, Management, and Institutions: a Systems Approach to Mitigating Climate Change with Forestry

Thursday, October 26, 2023
2:30pm - 3:00pm PST
Location: A6
CFE .5 / ISA CEU .5 / ESA CEU .125

    Speaker(s)

  • Robert Alec Giffen, MS

    Senior Forest Science and Policy Fellow
    New England Forestry Foundation and Clean Air Task Force
    Chelsea, Maine, United States

    • Author(s)

  • Colleen Ryan, MF (she/her/hers)

    Forest Scientist
    New England Forestry Foundation
    Intervale, New Hampshire, United States

Because forestry is embedded within complex biological, social, and economic systems, any approach to harnessing forests to address climate change must consider multiple aspects of these systems. This presentation will focus on three crucial arenas that impact forests’ effects on climate change: forest management, harvested wood products, and institutional change.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify and understand aspects of climate-smart forestry and the surrounding systems that have not received as much attention as forest carbon, and yet have substantial impacts on whether we will realize the full capacity of forests as a natural climate solution.
  • Describe some relevant research, pilot programs, and policy initiatives underway in New England that could address these issues and serve as models in other parts of the world.
  • Continue needed conversation about the role of harvested wood products and holistic, systems-based forest management in boosting the potential of forests to mitigate climate change and the institutional change needed to harness this potential.