Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes

Happening this Wednesday ⬇️ Don't miss our next EFLN session on  2nd April at 4:00 PM in the Training and Skills Room at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute with a focus on Sustainable Landscapes in a Land Reformed Scotland 🌳, followed by drinks and networking from 5:00 PM 🥂 🔗 Find more details about the session below. See you there!

🌳 As we mark the International Day of Forests today under the theme of 'Forests and Foods', we celebrate the role of forests in food systems through a special edition article titled 'Can You Have Your Woodland and Eat It?' written by The University of Edinburgh alumni Lubomír Smrček. This article presents the concept of food woodlands 🌱 and their potential to provide local food reserves and perhaps even promote our co-existence with nature. 🔗 Read the full article linked below ⬇️ The University of Edinburgh I School of GeoSciences I Wageningen University & Research I UNECE/FAO Forests #ForestDay #IntlForestDay #GenerationRestoration

🌳🔎 Can UK forest carbon projects deliver competitive investment returns? In the second of his series on UK natural capital investing, Craig Mackenzie examines whether forestry projects can achieve a competitive rate of return. "Forestry is a key priority," Craig writes, "with targets and programmes for planting 30,000 hectares of woodland each year, roughly double the rate of the last decade." "This is partly to meet UK Net Zero objectives (forests remove carbon from the atmosphere), partly to increase supply of timber (a low carbon building material), and partly to achieve biodiversity objectives. The combination of substantially increased planting targets and tighter constraints on government spending means that the government is looking for other ways to increase private sector involvement. In a previous article, I argued that pension funds may be willing to invest in forest planting, part financed by selling carbon credits, but only if they could expect to achieve a competitive rate of return - perhaps somewhere near 10-12% per annum. In this piece I explore whether forestry projects backed by the sale of Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) credits can achieve this level of return." Read this and more thought leadership on this topic from our Centre for Business, Climate Change, and Sustainability (BCCaS): 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ex3CSTHH Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes | Iain McNicol | Elspeth Wray | Luca Taschini

New NERC funded post doc position available: https://lnkd.in/eusX2viR Which restoration projects are most effective and why? Which ones work well "on site" but displace the degradation elsewhere? Which ones create positive spillovers and have even greater effects than expected? Want to know the answers? Come and work with Dave Edwards (University of Cambridge, Plant Sciences) and me (School of GeoSciences, Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, The University of Edinburgh) on a new project with partners from restoration projects across 6 African countries. The work will involve a great mix of fieldwork and spatial analysis of biodiversity and carbon impacts.

How do you use forest data — or what’s holding you back from applying it to your work? World Resources Institute, in collaboration with Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, is gathering feedback to help improve GFW. Whether you are a current GFW user or unfamiliar with the platform, your insights will help us make forest data more accessible and useful. Please share your thoughts by taking our short survey! The survey will be open until March 31. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eYbKP3sp The University of Edinburgh Iain McNicol #survey #feedback

Come along to our next EFLN session taking place on Wednesday, 2nd April at 4:00 PM in the Training and Skills Room at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, with drinks and networking from 5:00 PM 🥂 This session will focus on 'Sustainable Landscapes in a Land Reformed Scotland', where the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) will talk through what land reform means for people, nature and places; where we are in our land reform journey and what re-thinking ownership can contribute to delivering inclusive, diverse and sustainable landscapes 🌳 The line-up of speakers include: ☑️ Kathie Pollard, Scottish Land Commission Policy and Practice Lead ☑️ James MacKessack-Leitch, Scottish Land Commission Policy and Practice Lead ☑️ Hanna Wheatley, Scottish Land Commission Researcher and data analyst   with reflections from: ☑️ Dr Janet Fisher, Senior Lecturer, The University of Edinburgh ☑️ Dr Andrew Midgley, Senior Land Use Policy Officer, RSPB There will be opportunities for the audience to ask questions 💡 See you there! #landreform #sustainablelandscapes

We are working with the World Resources Institute to help improve Global Forest Watch. Whether you are a current user or unfamiliar with the platform, your insights will help us make forest data 🌳 more accessible and useful. Please share your thoughts by taking our short survey: https://lnkd.in/g73YhjTc Katherine Shea | Celeste Gunderson | Iain McNicol | School of GeoSciences | The University of Edinburgh | Land & Carbon Lab | WILDLABS Community | Nature Tech Collective | Global Land Programme | Gary Watmough | Casey Ryan | Prof Iain H Woodhouse 🌍🛰 (伊恩・伍德豪斯 教授) | IUFRO - International Union of Forest Research Organizations

Continuing our visits to Glenturret as we drone survey the Universitys newly acquired Barvic burn land. This is part of the Forest and Peatland project, which is run by University of Edinburgh Social Responsibility & Sustainability. Its a cold but beautiful day up the glen! School of GeoSciences www.ed.ac.uk/airborne Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes Liz Poulsom

💡Research Spotlight ➡️ The People and the Peat: Making a Living in the World's Largest Swamp 🌍 We are excited to share a new article that highlights the important work of Shona Jenkins, a PhD student at The University of Edinburgh and Research Fellow - Tropical peatland conservation in the Republic of Congo at the University of St Andrews unpacking how peatland communities understand, value and manage the peatland forest in the Congo basin that supports the livelihoods of millions of people. Shona’s work elevates these local voices, their knowledge and their concerns to start creating new conservation approaches that serve local livelihoods and the forest. We caught up with Shona Jenkins to learn more about her work and its importance towards unveiling the connections between local people and the peat. 🔗 Read the full article linked below ⬇️ The University of Edinburgh I University of Leeds I NERC: Natural Environment Research Council I Space Intelligence #CongoPeat #peat #peatlands #Congobasin

Aerial survey day for the Forest and Peatland program! The University of Edinburgh Social Responsibility & Sustainability started a long-term, multi-million-pound project to restore peatland and expand forests in Scotland. This project will remove carbon from the atmosphere, increase biodiversity, connect woodlands, improve recreation and scenery for local communities, and preserve cultural heritage sites. The School of GeoSciences Airborne Research and Innovation staff have been carrying out all aerial baseline surveys at the FPP sites, and today we are at Barvic Burn! The weather is glorious! LiDAR and RGB are the order of the day. The University of Edinburgh www.ed.ac.uk/airborne Caroline Nichol Liz Poulsom Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes