Forests still cover 31% (~4 billion hectares) of our planet’s land cover. Hence, major challenges are connected with the management and preservation of forest ecosystems. Mitigation and adaptation strategies towards climate change, food and energy security for a growing population, as well as conservation of ecosystem services, they all potentially change forest area and structure.
As an example, forest cover changes already contribute 12-15% of the world’s annual carbon emissions associated with the loss of biodiversity and many environmental services. Still major problems exist in providing accurate estimates of forest cover and quality change. However, this would form an important precondition to implement incentives for developing countries to stop deforestation. Moreover, efforts to mitigate or even stop losing natural forests must be well harmonized with the agricultural sector, because the world is also facing a by 50 to 70% increased food demand in 2050. FChange-2014 will cover the following topics:

• Terrestrial Survey Methods
• Remote Sensing Survey Methods
• Ecosystem and Environmental Services
• Biophysical + Natural Drivers of Forest Change
• Anthropogenic Drivers of Forest Change
• Management Systems & Concepts