Tuesday 30 July 2013 5-6pm (followed by refreshments)

Forestry Lecture Theatre, Building 48, Linnaeus Way, ANU

Tony Bartlett, ACIAR;
Greg Barton, Centre for Environmental History, ANU; and
John Dargavel, FSES, ANU

The outlook for the world’s forests is bleak. Some are flourishing, but the climate is changing, tropical forests are disappearing, others are degrading, species are being lost, governments dither and international conferences fail. But there is another longer story. Foresters and other scientists have tried to know their forests for over three centuries and have hoped to apply their knowledge to good effect. How far did their scientific understanding enable the sylvan future they envisioned? What were the successes and failures? And what might the future hold for forest science and its application?

The speakers will address some of the questions raised in a new book

by John Dargavel and Elisabeth
Johann, Science and Hope: a Forest History (Cambridge: White Horse Press, 2013).