By means of research and consultation we contribute to the conservation and environmentally sound development of the world’s forests. Our objective is the elaboration of concepts and strategies for the sustainable management of forests worldwide with regard to ecological, economical, social and political frame conditions.

Key issues of our work are:

• Provision of scientific decision support for legal and administrative
   tasks of the German Federal Government

• Interactions between forests and abiotic and biotic environmental
   factors

• Interactions between forests, atmosphere and global climate

• Structure and dynamics of forest biological diversity

• Concepts for forest planning and their integration into land-use
   planning

• Concepts for the sustainable management of forests and
   agroforestry systems

• Scientific support for political negotiations on the international
   level