17 September 2018 - 20 September 2018
Conference Center Laxenburg

IBFRA18 - Cool Forests at risk?

The theme of the Cool Forests Conference (IBFRA18) is the critical role of boreal and mountain ecosystems for people, bioeconomy, and climate. The event will launch an initiative to raise awareness, maintain and promote the multiple, critical values, provided by those ecosystems. From AFI, Anni Reissell and Katica De Pascale took part in organizing the event, working on content, and especially for the last day of the event, and logistics.

Cool Forests in the Boreal and Mountain areas cover more than one third of all global forests, forming the largest terrestrial vegetation ecosystem. They bridge from the circumpolar belt in the northern latitudes to high-elevation forests in the southern hemisphere. Forests on permafrost show high similarities both in the boreal and mountain ecozones (intra-zonal boreal forest) – especially with respect to species and growth patterns but also in response to climate exposure. 

Cool forests and their natural resources play a crucial role for the economy, the earth’s climate regime and critical socio-environmental values such as water, prevention of erosion and flood, and biodiversity. Cool Forests deliver most of the resources for the forest-based industry globally, they store as much carbon as tropical forests per hectare, they are home to unique landscape and nature diversity, and they are crucial for livelihoods of billions of people. 

If we fail to sustain the Cool Forests with their critical services and functions, an entire economic sector is at risk to collapse and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement in particular can never be achieved.  

Join the collective effort to create solutions for a sustainable future for boreal and mountain ecosystems for people, bioeconomy, and our climate!

Sign up to become a Cool Forest Ambassador!

We are very proud to announce that Her Excellency Elisabeth Köstinger, Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism of Austria, joins the Cool Forest Ambassador initiative: “Multifunctional boreal forests and mountain forests are among the ecosystems most affected by climate change. They play a key role in tackling climate change and achieving the Paris climate goals. I am therefore supporting the IBFRA18 Cool Forests Conference and I am delighted to be an Ambassador for Cool Forests.“ 

©Karen Everett













©Karen Everett
















©Karen Everett





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Last edited: 15 April 2019

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International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313