Challenges to forest health resulting from globalization and climate change were among the topics discussed at the 25th World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), which continues until October 5 at the Expo Unimed event center in Curitiba. Researchers from Brazil, Argentina, and Sweden presented research findings, along with the main hurdles to controlling pests and diseases that cause tree mortality, such as air pollution, climate change, and insect attacks. According to debate moderator Eckhard Brockerhoff of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, the spread of pests and diseases has become increasingly frequent, and in most cases is the result of international trade involving transport between countries, either by boat or by inland routes that are difficult to control. "We have to be more careful in business operations, and forestry research must develop methods for control and more resistant species," he says. Brockerhoff also indicated the importance of specialists who can identify and study insect pests (entomologists) in order to maintain expertise on how to deal with these problems; this is one reason why the discussions at the Congress are important. Check out the complete program for the event at iufro.2019.com.