La forêt, un écosystème dynamique, résilient et généreux | Laurent LATHUILLIÈRE | TEDxClermont

Everyone loves trees, but not everyone loves them in the same way, nor for the same reasons. Each person has an image of a forest as a reference point, but it's rarely this image that people discuss with one another. Paul Valéry said, "The tree is time made visible." One only needs to observe the many landscapes around us, to consult aerial photographs, both current and historical, to see the expansion of forested areas. We often say that "the forest is advancing!" Forests are generally dynamic, growing, bountiful, resilient, and not prone to eco-anxiety, even though risks and threats to them certainly exist, such as the storms of 1999, the fires that destroyed nearly 62,000 hectares in mainland France during the summer of 2022, or a nuclear accident like Chernobyl in 1986. Trees rarely withstand these stresses, but the forest, as an ecosystem, is still there, thriving, rejuvenated, revitalized, and ready for new growth, thanks to new trees. When asked, "What should be done in the forest after a disturbance?", we have several possible choices: "proactive action," "active patience," and "thoughtful inaction." The decision depends on the context, considering the diverse services forests provide to humans, our societies, and our economies. The real issue at stake in these choices is the future of societies and humanity, not the future of forests, which, in one way or another, in one state or another, have the intrinsic capacity to endure after us, without us. There is an official definition of a forest, issued by the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and adopted by the National Forest Inventory: “A forest is an area of ​​at least 50 ares with trees that can reach a height of more than 5 meters at maturity in situ, a tree canopy cover of more than 10%, and an average width of at least 20 meters.” #forest #resilience #regeneration Lathuillière, L., 2021. Trees, forests, management, biodiversity and histories: actors, issues and perspectives. Les cahiers du Groupe d'Histoire des Forêts Françaises, Forêt, Environnement, Société 163–172. — Recorded presentation at TEDxClermont 2022: [RE]GENERATION, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France, October 8, 2022. The replay of the 2022 edition is available below: https://tedx.cf/2022 More talks at: http://tedxclermont.fr/ Join us on social media:   / tedxclermont     / tedxclermont     / tedxclermont     / tedxclermont   — Laurent Lathuillière is a forester, silviculturist, and naturalist. He works as an environmental officer and expert in the fields of biodiversity and forest ecology, silviculture, and nature and biological reserves. He is also a botanist and entomologist, specializing in forest and saproxylic communities, related to senescent trees and deadwood. He is particularly interested in the multiple and complex links between functionality, biodiversity, and forest management, using an ecosystemic, dynamic approach that considers both spatial and temporal aspects, as well as the historical, social, and societal dimensions of forest ecosystems (and those associated with them). Laurent is also committed to disseminating this knowledge and these reflections through numerous exchanges, written contributions, training sessions, and conferences, because knowledge is of little value if it is not shared. — — This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx