2026 FLARE Annual Meeting


The 12th FLARE Annual Meeting will be held from October 21-24, 2026 in Bilbao, Spain in partnership with the University of Deusto.

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2026 Annual Meeting Theme

Forests as Spaces of Hope and Solidarity

Forests worldwide are symbols of hope. Hope, not as passive optimism or blind faith, but rather as a courageous commitment to possibility amidst uncertainty. Forests are also literal spaces of hope for hundreds of millions of people around the world who rely on them for their livelihoods and well-being. Hope can inspire collective action and mutual support. Hope and solidarity are needed to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage forests. But contemporary challenges—wanton disregard of social norms, stubborn violence, yawning inequality, technology-fueled alienation, climate breakdown, and more—conspire to undermine hope and solidarity.


Yet hope persists, manifesting in new forms of solidarity and collective action toward better futures. 


We invite speakers to integrate this theme— forests as spaces of hope and solidarity— into their proposals for the 12th Annual FLARE Meeting. 

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Secondary Annual Meeting Themes

  • Forest livelihoods amidst (geo)political change
  • Forest governance from local to global
  • Forests, trees and human well-being: New methods and collaborative approaches
  • Green energy transitions
  • Forests, equality, and justice
  • Forest livelihoods in a changing climate
  • Tree-based (socio)bioeconomies
  • Beyond the forest: trees and human well-being from farm to city
  • Biodiversity conservation and forest lifeways

Abstract Guidelines

Please review the guidelines before submitting your abstract.

Abstract Guidelines
Guía de Resumen

Submit your Abstract for the Annual Meeting

*Please note: If you do not have an account with Oxford Abstracts, you will have to create a free account to submit your abstract.

 2026 Abstract Submission Portal

2026 FLARE Annual Meeting Commitees

Coordination Committee

  • Apurva Duddu, Yale University
  • Armando Valdés Velásquez, Wyss Academy
  • Sarah Castle, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Doris Mutta, African Forest Forum
  • Deborah Delgado Pugley, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
  • Forrest Fleischman, University of Minnesota
  • Fernanda Liberali, Pontifical University of Sao Paulo
  • Santiago Izquierdo-Tort, University of British Columbia
  • Jude Kimengsi, Dresden University of Technology
  • Karen Bailey, University of Colorado at Boulder
  • Katie Devenish, University of Manchester
  • Laura Sauls, George Mason University
  • Natalia Cisneros, CIFOR-ICRAF
  • Pablo Peña, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
  • Rachel Carmenta, University of East Anglia
  • Rattiya Lippe, Thuenen Institute of Forestry
  • Sony Baral, Tribhuwan University
  • Terry Sunderland, University of British Columbia
  • Wenman Liu, University of Michigan
  • Yayan Hiyadat,  Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN)

Local Host

  • Francisco Javier Arellano Yanguas, University of Deusto
  • Ainhoa Jorquera Cascón, University of Deusto