Forest Therapy | Organizers

This event is organized by CONAFOR - SEMARNAT and the Faculty of Forestry of the University of British Columbia, with the support of the Asia Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet).

The National Forestry Commission is a decentralized public body of the Mexican Federal Government, sectorized within the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), whose objective is to develop, favor and promote productive, conservation and restoration activities in forest matters, as well as to participate in the formulation of plans, programs, and in the application of the sustainable forest development policy.

Forests for social and climate well-being is its mission, which is carried out by promoting community forest management; promoting sustainable use of forest resources and the integration and development of production chains and value networks; supporting and promoting of forest conservation, protection and restoration; and advancing in the construction of values and environmental responsibility of society.

Mr. León Jorge Castaños Martínez

Director General of Mexico’s National Forestry Commission and Chairperson of the FAO North American Forest Commission (NAFC).

In Mexico’s federal government, he has served as Director General for Forestry Development, at the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock, as Undersecretary of Forestry, in the Secretariat of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources and as Executive Secretary of the first National Forestry Commission between 1986 and 1988.

He received the National Forestry Merit Award in 2002, and since 2014 has been an honorary member of the National Academy of Forestry Sciences. Since 2005, he has been in charge of delivering the "Forestry-Rural Development of Mexico" award).

He earned his Bachelor Degree of Agricultural Engineer specialized in Forests from the National School of Agriculture, Chapingo, in Mexico, and his Master’s degree in Forests from Oregon State University, in the U.S.

The APFNet-UBC Americas Office is supported by the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management (APFNet) and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Its function is to facilitate cooperation between economies in the Western Pacific (Southeast Asia, Asia, Oceania) and the Eastern Pacific (North, Central, and South America) to enhance better forest management, protection, and rehabilitation in the regions. To achieve this, the Americas Office works to identify opportunities to strengthen capacity building, enhance information sharing, promote policy dialogues, and support demonstration projects.

The Americas Office’s provides regional communities with support by identifying key experts and officials engaged in effective forest rehabilitation research efforts; establishing a network to facilitate communication sharing; consulting with this network to identify key areas of research and policy; supporting specific projects in these areas that will have the greatest impact on mitigating deforestation and forest degradation, and; continuing to act in a supporting role until the completion of the proposed activity.

Dr. John Innes

Dean of the Faculty of Forestry of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada.

He came to British Columbia in 1999, having previously worked in the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. He is actively involved with climate change research, particularly its effects on forest ecosystems. In 2007, he was part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

Dr. Innes teaches in the field of international and sustainable forestry. Under his leadership, the Faculty has taken significant steps toward broadening the curricula and academic content to reflect changing realities in the forest and conservation sectors.