Webinar: Forests for Future: Halting Biodiversity Decline by Restoring Forest Ecosystems

Forests for Future: Halting Biodiversity Decline by Restoring Forest Ecosystems

• Nov 4, 2026 03:00 PM CET
• A Webinar CO-HOSTED by EXTRA (Existential Threats and Risks to All) and EXALT – The Global Extractivisms and Alternatives Initiative, University of Helsinki

Join us for the second joint EXTRA/EXALT symposium in collaboration with the TreesForDev research project. Forests are at the front lines of the global climate crisis. In this symposium we explore the still much neglected issue of biodiversity loss and deforestation, sometimes also glossed as ecosystem collapse. Our point of departure is a new pivotal report released by IPBES, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Environmental Services, highlighting the economic risks of failing to act on the already dramatic loss of ecosystem health that has been documented. In this symposium we explore the role of afforestation in mitigating biodiversity loss and ecosystem restoration, and in reducing climate change through carbon abatement. We bring together three experts to talk about deforestation, the role of wildfires, afforestation, and how ecological restoration requires more than just tree planting. Our speakers come from the critical social sciences, management and organization studies, and forest policy. Their unique perspectives will support a rich dialogue on what policies will best serve to prevent further forest and biodiversity loss.

Please register to receive a Zoom link.