Wood At Work 2019: NYC Forum
September 26, 2019 in Central Park
The fifth annual instalment of Wood at Work was held with great success this fall in New York City at the Arsenal Building in Central Park on September 26th. In the midst of UN Climate Week, the event explored the connections between cities' use of wood products, the faraway forests that support this growing demand, and the impacts on climate, people, and biodiversity. This year we brought together a focused group of local professionals across disciplines to target specific themes for high-level collaboration.
The Forum was highlighted by the timely presence of climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe, who shared comments on the IPCC climate and land use report and its relevance to topics such as nature-based solutions, the role of primary and secondary industries, and the potential of forest partnerships. Important questions were raised, such as: how the use of wood in cities can support "partner forests" that model best practices in conservation, socio-cultural investment and sustainable business models and how wood should be specified to build the capacity of sustainable forest sourcing and supply chains.
The forum facilitated an interactive discussion to help advance several current projects, ideas and cases presented by the group. Most importantly, the conversations brought professionals across disciplines to advocate to collaborate together on a larger-scale initiative with significant impact, and that more voices would be necessary to carry the cause. Once again it was proven that only through such collaboration are we able to leverage the knowledge and experience in our communities to tackle some of the wicked problems we are faced with, both large and small.
Stay tuned for more results from the Forum!
To inquire or participate or for further details on our upcoming W@W Forum please contact us at woodatwork@pilot-projects.org.
Prior to the Forum during the UN General Assembly's 2019 Climate Week, Scott spoke on a panel on the power of cities to offer solutions to the escalating climate crisis and the actions that Cities4Forests has taken towards these goals.