Forests and Societies - UPR Forêts et Sociétés

Internal Research Unit (UPR) ES Department
The emergence of global natural resource management instruments will be a determining factor in the future of tropical forests: ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and management, biomass use for energy production, and will also increase demand for land. By generating new activities, such instruments can improve the capacity of rural societies to adapt. However, they can also reduce that capacity, notably by restricting access to natural resources.
Image multispectrale infrarouge de la canopée du nord Congo réalisée par drone à long rayon d'action. Produit du projet I-DROP cofinancé par le Fonds européen de développement régional © Sunbirds, CEA, Cirad, Interholco, Nature+, Université de Liège

Multispectral infrared image of the northern Congo canopy taken by long-range drone. Product of the I-DROP project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. © Sunbirds, CEA, CIRAD, Interholco, Nature+, Université de Liège

The Forests and Societies Research Unit's main goal is to “help assess, define and implement policies, instruments and practices that:

  • facilitate the adaptation of ecological and social systems to the constraints and opportunities resulting from global change,
  • boost the sustainability of the services provided by tropical forests for the benefit of societies, on a local and global scale”.

Its research focuses on the following three main points of interest:

  • natural or planted tropical and subtropical forests;
  • the societies that make a living from and depend directly on forests, and transform them;
  • the public policies and instruments that apply to forests.