Climate change, air pollution, urbanization, globalization, demographic changes, and changing consumption patterns affect forests and their social, cultural, ecological, and economic functions, resulting in consequences for the social value of forests and for people’s livelihoods, health, and quality of life. These consequences are more acutely felt in regions where people are directly dependent on the environmental services provided by forests. Additionally, these consequences rapidly affect growing urban populations, as forests and trees make important contributions to urban resilience and human health and wellbeing.
Achieving a better understanding of the drivers of the changing relationship between forests and people is a major challenge of forest research and a prerequisite for the development of more sustainable relationships between forests and society. Additionally, scientific transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, at different regional levels, is needed in order to contribute to the successful adaptation of forests to climate change, and to the strengthening of tree health, resistance, and resilience. At the same time, all scientific results are a precondition for maintaining and improving the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change and air pollution on the natural environment.
