From a human society perspective, trees and forests are an essential part of the biological capital of most environments. Without them, the complex societies we live in, are not possible. Fascinating, if tragic, ruins all over the world remind us of once great civilizations. Why did they collapse? There are many reasons, but research shows that these civilizations often developed in an environmental Utopia, until a day when the last big trees were cut down – reminiscint of general environmental decay and with consequences no-one foresaw in the rich years – followed by … ruins (Diamond 2005, Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed). They did not see ‘the trees for the forest’ or recognise their dependence on them.

Seeing the interactions of Trees, Forests and People from all perspectives is what the twelfth World Congress of the International Union for Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO; www.iufro.org), held in Brisbane, Australia from 8-13 August 2005, was all about. The theme of the congress, ‘Forests in the Balance: Linking Tradition and Technology’ was an appropriate framework for the presentations and discussions of the role and findings of current forestry science. Overall, there appears to be a clear need to urgently find a balance between economic and socio-economic demands on forests, with the ecological constraints on them. This is also reflected in the main resolutions accepted at the congress, namely: 1. ‘Promoting global cooperation in forest-related research’ (addressing quality, cooperation, communication, equality and relevance of forest science, within the scientific community) and 2. ‘Promoting science for decision-making’ (including the relevance and effective communication of forestry science to policy makers and mainstream society).

IUFRO dates back to 1892 and focusses on ‘international cooperation in scientific studies, embracing the whole field of research related to forests and trees for the well-being of forests and the people that depend on them (IUFRO, Mission statement)’. The organization unites a global network of more than 15,000 scientists in nearly 700 Member Organizations from over 110 countries. Of these more than 2000 delegates from over 80 countries attended the congress in Brisbane.

Mike Wingfield, Jolanda Roux, Xudong Zhou and Bernard Slippers attended the meeting on behalf of the TPCP, CTHB and FABI. Other TPCP members, Elsie de Meyer, Draginja Pavlic, Grace Nakabonge and Almuth Hammerbacher (and their co-authors), were represented by their posters. In total, the TPCP and CTHB contributed six posters and three talks (See abstracts). They joined more than 10 fellow South African forestry scientists to represent Forestry research in South Africa at the meeting. These included Eugene van As, the non-executive Chairman of Sappi Limited, who was one of the five main keynote speakers.

TPCP and CTHB staff members contributed more than presentations and posters at IUFRO and some were elected to different management structures in IUFRO or received awards during meetings held at the conference. The work of IUFRO is divided into eight divisions. Mike Wingfield was elected as the coordinator of Division 7 (Forest Health) after serving as Deputy Coordinator for the last five years. In this capacity, he also joins the new Board of IUFRO until 2010. Within each Division, specific units or working parties coordinate the activities around a specific topic. Mike is also Coordinator for the IUFRO Unit (7.02.00) dealing with Forest Pathology, but will hand over this responsibility to Dr. Gaston LaFlamme this year. Jolanda Roux, newly appointed Professor to the CTHB, was selected as Coordinator of the Unit (7.02.07) dealing with Diseases of Tropical Forest Trees for the next term starting in January 2006. Bernard Slippers newly appointed Senior Lecturer to the CTHB, who completed his Ph.D. as a TPCP team member, was awarded the IUFRO award for outstanding doctoral research. Tasmien Horsley (Sappi Forests) and her co-authors received a best poster award in Division 2 for their work on hybrid seed production in Eucalyptus.

Abstracts of all the posters and talks presented at the congress were published in the International Forestry Review, which is freely from the IUFRO website (www.iufro.org).



FABI contributions:


Posters


· Fungi causing utility pole decay in South Africa. - De Meyer, E.M., De Beer, Z.W., Wingfield, M.J., Couto, M.
· Modelling the effect of Fusarium cicinatum spore concentration, wound type and environment on disease development. - Hammerbacher, A., Coutinho, T.A., Wingfield, B.D., Wingfield, M.J.
· Population structure of the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria eucalypti from Australia and South Africa. - Nakabonge, G., Gryzenhout, M., Wingfield, M.J., Roux, J., Burgess, T., Hardy, G.
· Botryosphaeria spp. that co-infect native Syzygium and introduced Eucalyptus trees in South Africa: implications for disease management. - Pavlic, D., Slippers, B., Coutinho, T.A., Wingfield, M.J.
· Distribution and importance of Botryosphaeria spp. on native and introduced Eucalyptus trees in Australia, Africa and South America. - Slippers, B., Ahumada, R., Gezaghne, A., Mohali, S., Nakabonga, G., Rodas, C., Roux, J., Coutinho, T.A., Wingfield, B.D., Wingfield, M.J.
· Ophiostoma spp. associated with the bark beetle, Ips grandicollis, on native and exotic Pinus spp. - Zhou, X.D., de Beer, Z.W., Wingfield, M.J., Carnegie, A.J., Portales, J.M., Klepzig, K.


Talks


· Invasive insects and diseases threaten World forests. - Haack, R.A., Wingfield, M.J.
· Potential impact of climate change on plantation pest and disease problems in southern Africa. - Roux, J., Wingfield, M.J.
· Pathogen management as a driver in Eucalyptus genetic management and deployment strategies. - Wingfield, M.J., Roux, J., Wingfield