Your ForES project update - Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services

Welcome to the second ForES newsletter. The aim of our four-year project is to use the natural capital approach to map forest ecosystem services at specific Coillte sites to develop a web tool to enable foresters and landowners to consider the multiple values within their woodlands for sustainable decision making. With a multi-disciplinary team at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, the project is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine. Follow ForES on our social media - Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram.

Video

WATCH: The ForES team has recorded a series of explainer videos on our work, which we'll be updating periodically on our site. Above, you can watch Prof Jane Stout, Trinity College Dublin, on using the natural capital accounting approach to value forest ecosystem services. We also feature a video presentation from Ciarán Fallon of The Nature Trust and Coillte, on why the State forester is collaborating on our work to map and assess ecosystem services at a variety of its woodland sites across Ireland to enable better, more sustainable forestry decision-making. Visit our Videos page HERE for more.

Blog

Infographic of 3 boxes, one showing a suburban environment, one forested, one with stumps of trees and arrows showing 'Afforestation' 'Reforestation'& 'Deforestation

Our project aims to develop an online tool to value the ecosystem services that forests provide. This may, in some cases, lead to ecosystem conversion to achieve the most sustainable results. In a recent blog, our TCD-based PhD candidate Kathleen Conroy looks at what conversion means in relation to forestry, along with explaining the associated terms - deforestation, reforestation and afforestation. Read more HERE.

Events

Image of green leafy trees with pale box containing event title & info

ForES' Kathleen Conroy will present on our work to date to create an ecosystem services-focused decision-making tool at the International Agroforestry Conference on 'Farmer-led Climate Adaptation and Mitigation'. The Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine-supported event is taking place in Bantry, Cork in November. Register HERE.