Scope & Objectives

Air pollution and climate change are tightly linked. Many air pollutants contribute to the Earth’s radiative forcing, e.g., tropospheric ozone. The impacts of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems have been demonstrated by numerous studies over the last decades. The two factors interact in two ways: i) climate change can modify the effects of forest ecosystems exposure to air pollution, and vice-versa; and ii) air pollution can affect the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to specific impacts of climate change, and vice-versa.

Air quality policies around the world have not been successful in equally mitigating all air pollutants. For instance, despite the control of precursors emissions in some areas of the world, tropospheric ozone is worsened and is the most damaging air pollutant for forest ecosystems.

Air pollution and climate change remain a persistent threat to forest ecosystems, urging for international cooperation and unified research efforts. The 32nd biennial conference of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations - Research Group 8.04 on “Air pollution and climate change” is organized back-to-back the international conference “Influence of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Forest Dynamics” to address complex effects of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems.

We have the ambition to allow forest experts as well as experimentalists, monitoring experts, and modelers from all over the world to dialogue and share their updated knowledge for the protection of forest ecosystems from air pollution in a changing climate.

The main objectives are:

  • To share the current state of knowledge on scientific gaps in the understanding of multi-interactions of climate change, air pollution and forest ecosystems.
  • To examine the extent to which forests contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
  • To promote the identification and prediction of threats of air pollution and climate change to biodiversity and various ecological processes and forest services.
  • To discuss the most up-to-date actions for improving the sustainability of forests under the impacts of air pollution and climate change.
  • To examine current knowledge about the tools available for management and decision-making, and opportunities for forest adaptation.
  • To discuss research priorities and challenges for future research.