The next in the series of Workshops on Research and Forest Management will be held in Champenoux from 15 to 17 June 2015 on the theme :
Forest management responding to innovations in the wood sector
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The forestry-wood industry in France has been in decline for a number of years. A recent emergence of new technologies and innovations in wood products and wood uses, however, may make a turnaround possible. These innovations are numerous and relate to current wood use (strong growth in wood-energy), but also to chemical advances and composite materials, to new uses (with a sharp rise in using wood in construction), and to new processing techniques (such as automated robotic systems for sawing and milling).
Forest management in France has to date made significant changes in response to climate change and changing land uses, and must now address these developments and new uses in the timber markets. The most important questions facing the industry as a whole are now about adequate available resources, but also economic balance and viable distribution of added value along the chain from wood production to wood uses through first and second transformations. Finally, in a context where climate change mitigation, functioning of the circular economy and analysis of life-cycles are integral parts of any industrial approach, the relevant question is how to produce tools to efficiently evaluate economic and environmental aspects of a system, from the forest to the end product and ultimately, what is returned to the atmosphere.
The objective of this workshop will be to present emerging innovations in wood uses and to analyze balances between existing industrial needs and available forest resources, distinguishing research and development issues for exploiting existing resources and future resources. It will aim to provide insight into analyzing economic and environmental assessments of the production chain, including forest management. Finally, it will attempt to identify current and potential innovations in resource management and evaluation, which in turn directly impact supply. The workshop will build on conclusions from the Working Group 4 “Research-Development” to further develop the National Plan for Forest-Wood. It will feature summary presentation sessions, presentations by volunteers and open forum round table discussions.
The scientific council of REGEFOR 2015 will be issuing a detailed program in March which will provide registration instructions and practical information. You can participate now in the process of developing the content of the REGEFOR 2015 Workshops by sending e-mail to celine.ranger@nancy.inra.fr to suggest projects for study and research or experiments which could be the subject of presentations and discussions.
The workshop is organized by INRA, AgroParisTech, the University of Lorraine and GIP-ECOFOR. Participants will include students enrolled in the master FAGE program on Wood, Forest & Sustainable Development. The content of the workshop will be published in a special edition via open access by La Revue Forestière Française.
To access the full list of white papers and downloadable PDF versions (in English) from REGEFOR 2013, please follow this link : White Papers from REGEFOR 2013
