At the IUFRO in Stockholm, some ICP Forests members presented their research and thus contributed to the international discourse on forests and society towards 2050.

Among others, ICP Forests chaired a thematic session with eight oral and nine poster presentations on trends and implications of nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystem services in a changing climate. The session included presentations focusing on the overall spatial and temporal trends (mainly across Europe) as well as presentations in which researchers focused on specific case studies.

In the oral session, Dr. Arne Verstraeten showed, with the exception of a limited number of plots, a steady but slow decline of the nitrogen deposition across the ICP Forests Level II network in Europe. Dr. Peter Waldner compared the critical limits for nitrate leaching and soil acidification measured in the soil solution on these plots. When comparing the decades 2001-2010 and 2011-2020, the programme was able to demonstrate an improvement in soil acidification. Dr. Nathalie Cools showed that organic carbon stocks are increasing over time due to an increase of carbon stocks in the mineral soil, while carbon stocks in forest soils and peat soils appear to be decreasing.

Many thanks to all who participated in the session and special thanks to the IUFRO organization team!

Picture: Janine Oettel