CREAF has collaborated on the organization of several national and international meetings and confereces.
30 - 31 October 2008. Barcelona (Spain)
Forest and water related issues are of utmost importance; forests are crucial to the sustainable management of water ecosystems and resources and, at the same time, water is a key factor for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. This interrelation is nowadays even more enhanced in a context of global change with increased temperature, uncertain future rainfall, and uncertain effects of changes in land use; last but not least there will be an increasing growing demand for water from our society.
Despite this, water and forest management objectives still are commonly dealt in a sectorial way, without considering the interrelated implications between these two key ecosystems and resources. In addition, despite a significant advance in scientific understanding of forest and water interactions based on almost a century of research in forest hydrology, uncertainty, and in some cases confusion, persists because of difficulties sometimes in translating research findings between countries and regions, between different geographic scales, between different forest types and species, and between different forest management regimes. There has also been a failure to effectively communicate results to policy makers and planners and to challenge entrenched views.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to (i) improve the understanding of the bio-physical interactions between forests and water in different situations and contexts and recognizing concrete caveats with respect to uncertainties in our knowledge about the interactions; (ii) to develop effective and efficient models for managing forests and water resources with an integrated approach; (iii) to provide more comprehensive knowledge to policy makers on the forest/water interface in the framework of different policy initiatives (e.g. the EU Water Framework Directive and the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests). [More information]
2 October 2008. Rectorship's Assembly Hall of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
3 October 2008. Conference room Saló de Cent, Barcelona City Hall
Recently there have been multiple assessments concerning the profound global environmental change caused by human activity. Despite their enormous contributions, these assessments often cover components of the Earth system or a selection of forcings of change, and some are too moderate and slow in stating the severity of the problem and the necessity for urgent and adequate new solutions towards society's sustainable future.
In recognition of the need for a paradigm truly encompassing sustainability at the planetary scale, the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, would like to help developing such an approach by presenting science-based solutions that support the sustainable use of Earth's resources. CREAF recognizes that global environmental changes are taking at such rapid pace that there is a need for a new paradigm on Earth sustainability. This focus is needed to advance the boundaries of knowledge on the interconnectivity among the natural, managed and industrial systems that make up our planetary metabolism.
The main questions to deal with will be: Is this the moment when scientific community should make and urgent call alerting the society about this exceptional global change? Can we provide science based principles to human society by which to pursue the overarching goal of global sustainability? Are there new opportunities for societies well being brought about by global change?
With this aim, CREAF has invited some of the most prominent scientists world-wide who are contributing to the study of global change (Professors Andreae, Brito, Canadell, Ebi, Lubchenko, Mooney, Noble, Nobre, Scholes and Wiebe [brief curriculum]) to participate in a meeting in Barcelona past 2nd and 3rd October [programme] to prepare the Barcelona Declaration 2008: Challenges and Pathways to Earth Sustainability.
26 - 27 November 2007. Institute of Catalan Studies (Barcelona)
In year 2007 the CREAF participated, with the University of Barcelona (UB), in the organization of the International Meeting on Soil and Wetland Ecotoxicology, SOWETOX 2007, an encounter of experts to evaluate the effects of the pollutants on the soil and humid zones organisms.
Soil is the natural resource on which terrestrial ecosystems are based. It functions like a reservoir for water and nutrients and is, at the same time, the habitat of a wide variety of organisms which are involved in the decomposition of organic matter and the recycling of nutrients. The soil is also the recipient of many harmful substances from specific sources (accidental dumping, irrigation with polluted waters, application of waste products and fertilizers) or more diffuse sources (atmospheric deposition, pollution of surface waters).
Assessing the environmental risk resulting from the presence of these pollutants in the soil is not always feasible using analytical methods due to the variable nature of the pollutants and the interaction between them and the edaphic matrix. It is therefore advisable to possess tools for evaluating the overall toxic effects that may occur in soils affected by multiple pollutants. The SOWETOX conference got together European scientists who study the ecotoxicity generated by chemical products and waste.
2 - 4 July 2003. Autonomous University of Barcelona (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
In 2003 the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET) ordered the organization of its seventh national congress to the CREAF. The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Barcelona (UB) also collaborated in the organization. More than 200 persons attended the conference. The opening session had the participation of the counselor of Environment (Ramon Espadaler) and the vice-chancellors of the UAB and the UB.
Human activity is provoking a variety of changes on a global scale: atmospheric changes (CO2, methane and pollutants emissions), climate change, changes in land use, etc. It appears that climate change will bring about a warming of between 2ºC and 5ºC in addition to changes in the rainfall regime, which will decrease in this part of Europe. A warmer and drier climate will affect the structure and operation of Mediterranean ecosystems, in which biological activity is dependent on water for long periods of the year. Since 1997, when Kyoto Protocol was produced, Spain has increased the CO2 emissions far above the agreement.
Thats why the organizer committee and AEET's board thought this colud be a suitable opportunity to revise the role played by Spain regarding the treaty agreements and to analyze those issues that as experts on terrestrial ecology concern us: the role of natural systems in atmospheric CO2 fixation and the attenuation of climate change.
19 - 22 September 2001. CREAF, UAB Campus
This working group aims to test general hypotheses on global patterns and correlates of invasion and intrinsic community vulnerability. The main objectives are to estimate base rates of entry, naturalization and invasion for different functional groups, to characterise, and eventually quantify the extent of invasions among different biomes and with the aim of integrating measurements of impact that would include the range, abundance per unit area across that range, and the per-capita effect of the invading species.
14 - 18 March 1998. Congress Centre (Barcelona)
In 1998 the CREAF collaborated with the Cartographic Institute of Catalonia (ICC) in the organization of the international congress «Earth's Changing Land» in which approximately 500 communications were set forth (oral or posters) about the projects Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) and Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) within the framework of the international program IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme).
The project LUCC (Land Use and Cover Changes, 1994-2005) aims to document and understand global land-use and land-cover change, the forces that drive it, its relationship to climate and biogeochemistry, and the links between sustainability and land use. The project GCTE (Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems, 1992-2003) studied the effects of changes in climate, atmospheric composition and land uses on terrestrial ecosystems, agricultural systems and forest production.
During the conference the "LUCC CD-ROM Series. Nº1: Miombo", produced by CREAF, was launched. The CD-ROM integrates in a GIS digital elevation models, administrative boundaries, daily, monthly and gridded climate data, vegetation and land use-land cover data, AVHRR images, population and socioeconomic datasets for the south African zones forming the Miombo region. An Internet browser together with the MiraMon GIS software was used to easily access the CD-ROM data.