SPEAKERS
Jason Henning
Jason Henning is a Research Urban Forester with the Davey Institute in a collaborative position with the USDA Forest Service, Philadelphia Urban Field Station. Jason’s responsibilities include engaging in research efforts, supporting communities in the application of the i-Tree suite of tools, and communicating the science of urban forestry to diverse audiences. Jason’s background includes a Ph.D. in Forestry, an M.S. in Statistics, and six years of teaching and research in quantitative forestry at the university level. He has been the project manager for multiple forest resource inventories in urban and natural settings. His work in the interface between science and practice helps to target research efforts at community needs and ensure that science is delivered to the people and places where it can best be used.
Johan Östberg
Johan Östberg is Associate Professor with a PhD in Landscape Planning. Over the course of his career to date, he has produced over 200 publications, including reports, book chapters, popular and scientific reports, and peer-reviewed articles. He has been involved in a plethora of national and international networking and project activities. Moreover, he has been vice chairman of the UTGL – The Urban Tree Growth & Longevity Working Group and chairman for AREA – Arboriculture Research and Education Academy.
Apart from his academic career he is also an ISA Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, TRAQ Qualified, VETCert-certified and active as a consultant and co-owner of The Tree Office, an consultancy firm in Sweden working in the Nordic countries, where he is working to create green and sustainable urban areas.
Liza Paqueo
Based in Washington, DC, Liza Vida C. Paqueo has worked for the US Forest Service International Programs and Trade for 27 years as a Community Engagement Specialist. For over decade she focused on urban communities and ecosystems in several places, including Kigali (Rwanda), Amman (Jordan), Hurgada & Cairo (Egypt), Delhi (India), etc. She has convened global partners from Lower and Middle Income Countries to the annual International Seminar on Urban Forestry and Community Engagement as well as the online-based International i-Tree Academy, together with the Davey Tree Expert Company. Liza has aided in the integration of i-Tree across Mexico, Ukraine, Delhi, Jakarta and West Java, and Vietnam (ongoing). Currently, she also manages projects around migratory and invasive species, phytoremediation, and One Health programs. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Maria Chiara Pastore
Maria Chiara Pastore (1980) is associate professor at the Politecnico di Milano. Her work include the research for the implementation of an improved green system in the Greater Milan 2030, Forestami (Milano 2030), the production of the Water Vision for the Masterplan of Tirana (Albania) 2030, the “Safer house construction guidelines” for the country of Malawi, Ministry of Housing (GFDRR); the “Master plan for the City of Dar es Salaam”, in Tanzania, Ministry of Lands Housing Human Settlements Development, the Master plan for EXPO 2015 in Milan (with Stefano Boeri Architetti). She has been consultant to the World Bank, member of the scientific committee of the World Forum on Urban Forests, and currently, visiting professor at TU Graz. In 2018 she published the book “Reinterpreting the relationship between water and Urban Planning. The case of Dar es Salaam”, with Routledge.
Kenton Rogers
Kenton Rogers is a Chartered Urban Forester with a masters degree in Forest Ecosystem Management. During his 25 year career he has worked on a wide range of projects in Europe and and North Africa, was a Trustee of the International Tree Foundation for over 10 years, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Kenton is also Co Founder of Treeconomics, an employee owned Social Enterprise based at the University of Exeter Science Park, which specialises in urban forest assessment, valuation and management.
Kenton has written many popular articles and scientific papers on the role of trees and urban forests. He was also a contributing author on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment and the Springer Handbook on ‘The Urban Forest’ and most recently co-authored the Haynes Manual for Trees. Kenton provides expert advice and training on i-Tree, tree valuation, urban forest planning and the tree benefits approach to groups such as EU cost Action FP1204, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the house of commons and UK Forest Research amongst others.
Paolo Viskanic
Paolo Viskanic is an agronomist and founder and CEO of R3 GIS, a company providing geospatial solutions for urban green management across Europe. A University of Florence graduate, he spent over a decade on UN, FAO, and EU biodiversity projects in Africa and Eastern Europe before founding R3 GIS. Today he helps cities quantify ecosystem services and adapt to climate change, leading European initiatives such as LIFE URBANGREEN and applying natural capital accounting to urban green spaces.
Jan Willem Groot
Jan Willem de Groot is Managing Director of Terra Nostra, a Dutch consultancy specializing in urban trees, tree management and green infrastructure. He has worked with i-Tree for many years and has played an active role in promoting the use of ecosystem services valuation in Europe. He was closely involved in the organization of the 3rd European i-Tree Conference in Amsterdam.
With extensive experience in urban forestry, tree asset management and ecosystem services, Jan Willem works at the intersection of science, policy and practice. He regularly speaks at international conferences and is committed to translating scientific knowledge into practical tools that support better decision-making and increased investment in urban trees.
Naomi Zurcher
Naomi Zürcher is a practicing Urban Forester and Consulting Arborist, with over 4 decades of professional experience in her native New York and now in Switzerland as well. Her work has spanned the full range of Urban Forestry planning and management, covering both practice and applied research. She’s been active as a program manager, guest lecturer, invited (co-)author and an affiliate member of the i-Tree team as well as other international networks.
Leònia Nunes
Forest Engineer, with a PhD in Forest Sciences from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. She is a researcher at the Center for Applied Ecology “Professor Baeta Neves (CEABN-InBIO at ISA/ULisboa), where she conducts research into modeling the growth of forest ecosystems. She has participated in various international projects to harmonize biodiversity indicators and forest fuel analysis based on the National Forest Inventories of European countries. In particular, she has been promoting mixed stand forestry through research, teaching and publications. Recently she has been collaborating with municipalities to estimate environmental benefits of urban forest. She is a member of the Directive Board of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Portugal and Vice President of the Portuguese Society of Forest Sciences (SPCF).
Roni Bulent Ozel
Roni Bulent Ozel is a double PhD and former university professor in organisation design, economics, and computer science. He is an active researcher and social entrepreneur based in Amsterdam, NL. His work brings theory and practice together, exploring how technology, including AI, can support better policy and decision-making. This background shapes his approach to two things: quantifying the benefits that urban ecosystem services provide, which underpins their economic valuation, and using new technologies responsibly for urban greening and climate action. He is co-founder of Lucidminds AI, an Amsterdam-based R&D initiative that builds AI-powered tools for people and nature, including gAIa and the Green Urban Scenarios (GUS) platform.
Cecilia Zanzi
Cecilia Zanzi is an agronomist, landscaper and consultant in arboriculture. She got a Master Degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Milan in 2010 and then a Msc in Landscaping from the Politecnico of Milan. She has been working in Fito-Consult since 2010 dealing with landscaping and garden design, arboriculture, analysis of tree stability and use of biocontrol in urban areas.
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Claudia Menéndez Cantón, Project Manager, Arbocity (Spain)
Ana Macias Palomo, Landscape Architecture, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain)
Johan Östberg, The Tree Office (Sweden)
Kenton Rogers, Treeconomics (UK)
Pablo Cozano, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Ángel Enrique Salvo Tierra, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Ana Macias Palomo, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC)
Johan Östberg, The Tree Office
Kenton Rogers, Treeconomics
Ángel Ruiz Valero, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Jaime Francisco Pereña Ortiz, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Begoña Galindo Ruiz, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Pedro Miguel Guerrero Serrano, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Pablo Cozano, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Ángel Enrique Salvo Tierra, Universidad de Málaga (UMA)
Sonia Roig Gómez, Technical University of Madrid (UMP)
Anna Laura Jeschke, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC)
Asociación
Proyectos
Gestión del Bosque urbano
Tree Cities of the World
Investigación y formación
Voluntariado