The International Conference for Urban Forestry in Challenging Environments will be held in Beijing, China, from August 29th to September 1st , 2010. The conference is organized by Beijing Forestry University and IUFRO-Urban Forestry Unit.

The central theme of the conference is on how to manage urban forests in various challenging environments. To maintain sustainable urban forests in cities is the ultimate goal of urban forest management. However, this task can be very challenging for cities facing unfavorable natural or anthropogenic influences. Those influences include scorching heat in desert cities, freezing temperatures in high-altitude and high latitude cities, damages by natural disasters such as hurricanes in coastal cities, competition for scarce resources in cities in developing countries, vanishing support for urban forestry programs in western cities that are experiencing economic woes, negative impact inflicted by climate change, and destruction by people in conflict zones.

In contrast to extensive studies and discussions on managing urban forests in cities under normal conditions, less information is available for urban foresters in those challenging environments. At the conference in Beijing, scientists, policy makers, practitioners, and concerned citizens are invited to come together and share their findings, innovative science and technologies, and daily experience in dealing with challenges now and in the future. Also, benefits of urban forests to people living in challenging environments will be discussed. It is our hope that information generated from this conference can help to establish sustainable urban forests in more cities.