The world which is blessed with the existence of forests is a host to an enormous variety of flora and fauna. In a fast developing world, the forests have become the victims of development and we can no longer afford to lose such important entities. It is needless to say that special attention needs to given to protect and conserve forests. Realizing that, International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO) was established which has been actively organizing events and educating the public on the importance of protecting and conserving forests with Malaysia being one of the international committee members.

Back in August 2008, Malaysia won the bid between the Japanese to organize the IUFRO conference this year. “This will enable us to put Malaysia on the map with a good recognition and be identified as one of the key players in the conservation of forests,” said Professor Dr. Wickneswari Ratnam who is the Chairperson of the organizing committee. The other committee members are mainly from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Bioversity International. On the other hand, Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) and Asia Pacific Association of Forestry Research Institutions (APAFRI) are the supporters of this programme. Prof. Wickneswari said Malaysia was given the honour to host the conference this year as it has the infrastructure and the credibility.

“With the theme ‘Sustainable Utilisation and Conservation of Forests in the Genomics Era’ the conference will see the participation of prominent researchers and speakers from well known forest research institutes and organizations,” said Prof. Wickneswari. The conference will act as a platform for the participants to exchange ideas and information in forest genetics, breeding and conservation. The latest applications and approaches will also be discussed strongly throughout the conference. Up to date, the organizing committee received good responses with a total number of 150 registered participants although it is not as targeted due to the economic recession.

The 5-day programme will not only focus on researchers and practitioners from forest genetics, but it will also target other stakeholders namely policy makers and industry players. Various workshops will be conducted whereby major companies such as several Malaysian timber companies will be exposed to sophisticated methods in forest genetics. Besides that, one of the key agendas of the workshops would be the commercialization of research findings. It is hoped that through these workshops conducted, more industry players would come forward to invest in the technology of forest genetics which will propel the sector to further heights and increase the revenue