Conference explores complexities in forestry

Organized by about 20 students in the Yale chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters, this year’s event was the 24th annual ISTF conference. The forum — centered this year on the theme “Attending to Socio-ecological Complexity in Tropical Forest Landscapes” — fostered discussions about the different ecosystems, sociopolitical regimes and stakeholder perspectives within each tropical forest region. While Friday’s talks were more theoretical, Saturday’s speakers emphasized the tools, techniques, and skills that could be used to help understand and address the socio-ecological complexity of tropical forests, Miller said. Manuel Guariguata from the Center for International Forestry Research, Eleanor Sterling FES ’93 from the American Museum of Natural History, and Richard Peterson from the University of New England and Souza spoke about their perspectives working in tropical forests in Saturday’s morning plenary panel.