Forest Sciences’ Day 26 October 2022
Place: Viikki Campus of the University of Helsinki, Forest Sciences Building
Time: Wednesday 26 October 2022, 9:00 – ca. 20:00
#metsätiede2022
Diversity of forests forms the interconnected fabric of life that supports their functions. The fabric of life enables the functioning of forest ecosystems, resilience to disturbances, adaptation to environmental changes and sustainable timber production. Trees make the forest yet they cannot live without the symbiosis with fungi, soil microbes recycle nutrients from dead plant materials back to the trees and predators control the overgrowth of herbivore populations.
Are all nodes in the fabric of life equally important? How much the fabric of life may be disturbed before it cannot support the life of a forest? Can people repair the fabric of life by means of nature management? How can we measure these phenomena? What is the value of the forest diversity for the nature, economy and society? We discussed these and many other questions in the Forest Sciences’ Day organised by the Finnish Society of Forest Science on 26 October 2022.
Download the Book of Abstracts of the Forest Sciences’ Day here.
In the morning, we had a plenary session, in which the best Finnish scientists of biological diversity spoke about measuring and valuating of the diversity from ecological, economic, societal and methodological viewpoint. We also heard a review of the EU biodiversity strategy, aim of which is to stop the nature loss and restore biological diversity.
The science clubs of the Finnish Society of Forest organised six parallel sessions in the afternoon. In these sessions, the forest diversity, its measurement and valuation was discussed from the viewpoints of several subdisciplines of forest sciences. Parallel session programmes can be found below on this page.
Forest Sciences’ Day was organised for the 30th time. The first Forest Sciences’ Day was organised in connection to the 75th anniversary of the Finnish Society of Forest Science. Since 1995, the Day was organised annually under the name Forest Science Day. We recovered the name in plural, Forest Sciences’ Day, now on the occasion of the 30th event for emphasising the multidisciplinary nature of forest sciences. Multidisciplinary science is needed in the measuring and valuation of the fabric of life.
All talks were recorded, unless the speaker had justified reasons to deny recording. The name of the talk is the link to the recording. The parallel session recordings are found on the page of the session.
Morning Plenary Session 9:00 – 12:00, Lecture room 110
| Opening words | vice-chair Marjo Palviainen, Finnish Society of Forest Science | |
| EU biodiversity strategy | Senior Ministerial Adviser Teemu Seppä, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland | |
 | Ecological basis for valuation and conservation of biological diversity | Senior Lecturer Panu Halme, University of Jyväskylä |
 | Economic valuation of biological diversity | Chair Markku Ollikainen, Finnish Climate Change Panel |
 | Societal significance of biological diversity and ecosystem services | Research Director Eeva Primmer, Finnish Environment Institute |
 | Biological diversity in National Forest Inventories of Finland | Principal Scientist Kari T. Korhonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland |
| Common discussion | Plenary speakers |
Afternoon parallel session 13:15 – 16:00
| Creating diversity with nature management: How to evaluate, valuate and use the results of nature management? (in Finnish) | Lecture room 106 | Forest Biology Club |
| Economic viewpoints on forest diversity (in Finnish) | Lecture room 540 | Forest Economist Club |
| Biological diversity in silviculture (in Finnish) | Lecture room 104 | Silviculture Club |
| Diverse forests and human-forest relationships (in Finnish) | Lecture room 107 | Human-Forest Relations Research Club |
| Measuring and considering biological diversity in the use of forests (in Finnish) | Lecture room 105 | Forest Mensuration Club |
| Environmental effectiveness of forest operations (in Finnish) | Lecture room 340 | Technology Club |
Evening plenary session 16:15 – 17:00, Lecture room 108
Late afternoon, we had some lighter forest programme. The Finnish Society of Forest Science awarded scientific recognitions for four forest scientists. We saw also a photo presentation on the excursion to Estonia in September 2022.
Recepients of the scientific recognitions of the Finnish Society of Forest Science. From left recipients of the Bronze Cajander Medal for excellent research in forest sciences Professor Markus Holopainen, University of Helsinki, and Research Professor Raisa Mäkipää, Natural Resources Institute Finland, and recipients of the Medal of the Finnish Society of Forest Science for outstanding work for the aims of the Society Research Director Matleena Kniivilä and Special Scientist Katri Himanen, both from the Natural Resources Institute Finland.
Buffet 17:00 – ca. 20:00, Restaurant Ladonlukko
The popular buffet of the Forest Sciences’ Day was open after two webinar years! We had lively discussions and debates on forest sciences while enjoying the buffet of the 30th anniversary of the Forest Sciences’ Day.
Organising Committee
| Marjo Palviainen, chair | Finnish Society of Forest Science | marjo.palviainen [] helsinki. fi | +358 29 415 8122 |
| Kirsi Laurén | Human-Forest Relationship Research Club | kirsi.lauren [] uef. fi | |
| Jukka Malinen | Technology Club | jukka.malinen [] metsateho. fi | |
| Mari Myllymäki | Forest Mensuration Club | mari.myllymaki [] luke. fi | |
| Vesa-Pekka Parkatti | Forest Economist Club | vesa-pekka.parkatti [] helsinki. fi | |
| Pekka Punttila | Forest Biology Club | pekka.punttila [] syke. fi | |
| Pasi Puttonen | Silviculture Club | pasi.puttonen [] helsinki. fi | |
| Pekka Nygren, secretary | Finnish Society of Forest Science | pekka.nygren [] metsatiede. org | +358 44 558 1199 |
Forest Sciences’ Day is organised with the support of the foundation Metsämiesten säätiö
