May

A General Meeting to celebrate 125 years

The 125th General Meeting of the Royal Forestry Society of Belgium was held on 4 May 2018 at the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne.
The day was graced by the presence of His Majesty the King.

The day continued with a guided tour of the forest estate of the Donation Royale de Ciergnon.
Meanwhile, His Majesty the King spoke to a number of experts about the impact of climate change on forests and how they function. Moderated by Dominique Godin, the round table included Philippe de Wouters (Director, SRFB), Nicolas Dassonville (Project Manager, SRFB), Jean-Pierre Scohy (Inspector General of the DNF), Bart Meuleman (Regiobeheerder, Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos), Quentin Ponette (Professor, Earth and Life Institute, UCL), Hugues Claessens (Professor, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, ULiège), Beatrijs Van der Aa (Onderzoekster Instituut Natuur-en BosOnderzoek, INBO), Valéry Bemelmans (Expert from the Fédération Nationale des Experts Forestiers). It was at this round table that the arboretum network project was also presented to His Majesty the King.

The forestry conference at the end of the afternoon addressed the theme of "The new forestry in the face of current and future uncertainties and challenges. Concrete examples from Canada". The speaker, Christian Messier (professor at the Université du Québec (UQAM) and director of the Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée), highlighted new ways of thinking about and managing the forest in order to make it immune to the various threats, thereby preserving the functionality of the forest ecosystem and conserving its biodiversity. Among the participants, the SRFB was able to count on the presence of Minister René Collin and the Governor of the Province of Namur, Denis Mathen.

The day was rounded off with a Walking Dinner.