NEWS

 

The statement describes the scientific breakthroughs that need to be achieved during the next decade to foster an improved, and more directly applicable, knowledge on how trees and forests react to environmental changes – with climate and global change obviously looming large in the landscape.

Forest science actions for the next decade we have identified are:

• Analysing resilience of forests to climate and global change
• Including social sciences in forestry
• Fostering analysis on biotic interactions
• Monitoring and managing biodiversity
• Investigating the pro and cons of assisted migration (AM) and assisted gene flow (AGF)
• Fostering adaptation through breeding for the new world
• Forests as a source of climate change mitigation
• Understanding genetic diversity at multiple spatial scales.

With this statement we wish to contribute to the debate on the steering of science in the European as well as larger research community on tree biology and forestry.

This requires a joint effort and engagement of academia with industry, foresters, citizens, non-governmental organisations and policy makers.

The next meeting of the Tree and Forest Working Group will build on this statement and will be announced by the WG chairs.

Looking forward to further collaborating with you in the Tree and Forest Biology and Biotechnology WG,

Ivan, Elina, Berthold and Karin

 Tree and Forest WG co-chairs: Ivan Scotti, Elina Oksanen, Berthold Heinze

EPSO Executive Director: Karin Metzlaff

 Click here to read: Full ‘EPSO Tree and Forest Biology and Biotechnology statement’

 

Contacts:

EPSO Tree and Forestry WG chairs:

Ivan Scotti, URFM, INRAE, FR

Elina Oksanen, University of Eastern Finland

Berthold Heinze, BFW Austrian Research Centre for Forests

EPSO:    Karin Metzlaff, EPSO Executive Director

The 24th Europe-wide seminar of the series by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.

TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET). This time exceptionally one week later.

  On 15th June 2023 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring “Trees – from above, from below, and from within”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.

EPSO members register in advance for this meeting: Zoom link

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.

We look forward to seeing you all for the 24th EPSO seminar on the 15th June 2023. 

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee 

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

Contacts:

Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board

Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & Adviser EPSO Board

Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board

EPSO welcomes the European Commission consultation and provides input on the achievements and suggests where improve Horizon Europe and the next Framework Programme (FP) to have a higher impact. 

The European Research and Innovation FPs are crucial to enable scientists and innovators across Europe to collaborate to generate knowledge, to apply this knowledge to address today’s and future challenges and to help build a strong, competitive and resilient, inclusive and democratic European society and improve life on earth.

Plant scientists took an active role in the EU FPs from the start and want to contribute in the future.

They are active in pillar 1, mainly in the European Research Council and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, both working very well.

They could contribute more to pillar 2, particularly in cluster 6 on Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment. To this end, we suggest the following improvements:

• Further implement the following concepts:
  • Address Food and Nutritional Security, environmental sustainability, biodiversity (natural and cultivated) and human health in parallel as much as possible.
  • Improve / adapt crops towards ‘Diverse crops for diverse diets and human health and resilient production’.
  • ‘Combine approaches on crop improvement, crop management and crop processing’.
  • Policy makers should define the goals but leave the pathways to how to achieve these open to the stakeholders
• Create a new heading ‘Enabling sustainable crop improvement’ in the Work Programme and / or partnership ‘CropBooster-Quest’:
  • CropBooster-Quest – Plant (systems) biology, crop improvement and plant breeding to achieve a critical mass investment enabling the community to substantially help addressing the challenges mentioned above and interacting with partnerships on biodiversity, agroecology, food systems.
  • To bridge the gap until a new partnership can be active, add the heading ‘Enabling sustainable crop improvement’ in the Work Programme.
• Better link the health cluster (1) with the food, agriculture, biotechnology cluster (6) to truly enable plant biologists, breeders, processors, nutritional scientist and health experts to interdisciplinary research and innovation to improve nutritional compounds in plants for the human diet, which are then further protected during crop processing and human digestion. In addition, plant made pharmaceuticals can be co-developed for medical purposes.

 All scientists would benefit from more general improvements in pillar 2 across all disciplines and sectors:

• Types of action: Add Research Actions (RAs) in pillar 2 to overcome the gap of collaborative basic research and complete the research and innovation cycle.
• Identify funding priorities: Consult European academic associations. Define the goals, but not the pathways to how to reach these to truly enable innovation.
• Implementation procedures: Increase trust in and flexibility for beneficiaries.

In the EPSO position paper we briefly explain each of these recommendations.

EPSO looks forward to further discuss and help implement these recommendations with colleagues from the European Commission and the Member State ministries and funders.

Click here to read: Full EPSO position paper on Horizon Europe and beyond

EPSO submission to the EC consultation is available here

Contacts:

Karin Metzlaff, EPSO Executive Director, BE

Odd Arne Rognli, NMBU, NO & EPSO President

The 13th European-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.

 

TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).

 

On 19^th May 2022 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring the “Variation and Sustainability in Forestry”

  Dr Ivan Scotti, INRA, Avignon, France – “Scales of genetic variation in forest tree populations: from continent to stand level”

  Prof Markku Keinänen, University of Eastern Finland, Finland – “Intraspecific and within-tree variation in in silver birch leaf spectral reflectance and chlorophyll a fluorescence transients”

 

 The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.

 

EPSO members register in advance for this meeting:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMoceypqTssGdYgmPo2vO317PkKtsxbQUg6

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

 

In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the autumn seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.

 

We look forward to seeing you all for the 13^th EPSO seminar on the 19^th May 2022

 

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

 

 

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

 

Contacts:

• Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
• Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
• Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board

Building on the discussions from the June meeting, the September meeting of this WG will prepare a statement on research needs, discuss potential proposals to Horizon Europe 2022 calls and prepare a statement on the new EU Forest Strategy.

The meeting intends to increase collaborations between the working group members both bi-and multi-lateral. In addition, the statements the WG will prepare will include recommendations on R&I as science advice to policy to the European Commission as well as national authorities.

The workshop will be held online 27 September 2021 from 8 am – 12 noon Brussels time.

Draft agenda: 

1. Preparation of a statement on the need for

• fundamental research to support high-quality applications in Horizon Europe topics and calls
• further strengthen forests as production systems as a tool in climate change mitigation
• inclusion of research on contingency & alternative species
• developing advanced data bases.

2. Analysis of Horizon Europe available information 2021-22 and beyond

• on the ideas towards 2023-2024 calls to identify sections to provide input for, in relation with (1.)
• on the 2022 calls published to identify topics in which a consortium could emerge from the Tree & Forest WG.

3. Preparation of a statement on the new EU Forest Strategy.

 Administrative information

Log-in details for the online meeting will be sent to registered participants.

EPSO members: We kindly ask you to register for your participation to the workshop by 10 September by e-mail to Karin Metzlaff.

We very much look forward to your contributions and to welcoming you at the workshop.

Ivan Scotti, Berthold Heinze, Roger Hellens and Karin Metzlaff

Contacts:
Ivan Scotti (INRE / FR, chair), Berthold Heinze (BFW / AT, chair), Roger Hellens (Scion / NZ, chair) and Karin Metzlaff (EPSO Executive Director)

Deforestation of tropical rainforests causes irrecoverable damage to biodiversity in terms of ecosystem and species loss and has long-term negative impact on global and regional climate through increased carbon release into the atmosphere. It is therefore crucial to stop deforestation.

In this context, EPSO welcomes the initiative, taken by the European Parliament, to explore the potential for European policy to reduce EU-driven global deforestation through the limitation of the import of commodities causing deforestation. EPSO supports the implementation of effective EU policies including due diligence and sustainability certification standards regarding deforestation risks.

We stress nevertheless that, as the Authors of the study themselves admit, they report upper-bound estimates of the impact of proposed policies. We also suggest that there is room for improvement in the definition of policies: (i) by differentiating the biodiversity and ecosystem services of much higher impact of clearing and disturbing pristine compared to already disturbed or secondary forests; (ii) by additionally aiming at preventing degradation of pristine forests, which also has a deep impact on biodiversity & ecosystem services; (iii) by promoting the usage and import of agroforestry-based commodities, which have the net advantage of actively maintaining forest cover.

EPSO offers to collaborate with the European Parliament, European Commission, Member States and authorities across the world to develop a forward-looking legislative framework, respective research and innovation strategies and help implement these.

Click here to read: Full EPSO news 16.09.202

Contacts: Chairs of the EPSO Tree biology and biotechnology Working Group: Ivan Scotti, INRAe / FR, Elspeth MacRae, Scion / NZ and Bethold Heinze, BFW / AT; EPSO.