Event Recordings

Markus Kröger, Professor of Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki, is the author of a compelling new, open access book from Cambridge University Press on the political economies of deforestation.

We were joined by Larry Lohmann from The Corner House (UK) for a rousing discussion about the new theories developed and applied in this book. 

Regionally dominant extractive sectors—Brazilian cattle ranching, Amazonian narco-gold mining, and Finnish paper pulping—provide the foundation for this book's analysis of the range of motivations for deforestation. This framing allows for a discussion of the global political economy and ecology in general, and an in-depth examination of the varieties of extractivisms that define land and resource use. The chapters take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on political ethnography and world systems analyses across the Global North-South divide. The book develops and applies a new theory that identifies regionally dominant political-economic systems as the driving forces behind deforestation. This book is essential reading for advanced students, researchers, and policy makers working in (de)forestation, environmental studies, environmental law, economics, conservation, climate change, and sustainability, leading to a deeper understanding of why our planet's forests are under threat.

On April 2, 2025, the Global Extractivisms and Alternatives Initiative (EXALT) co-hosted an event with the Kone Foundation Forest Dialogues that featured a contribution from TreesForDev PI Markus Kröger. 

Speakers included: 

• Jakob Donner-Amnell, a forest industry expert from the University of Eastern Finland, who will first give an overview of the current and foreseen challenges of the paper, pulp, and board producers (markets) globally and in Finland. 
• Sergio Baffoni, who worked for the Environmental Paper Network (EPN), will talk about the current trends in the pulp and paper segment (e.g. packaging development) and the consequences in term of investment on new pulp capacity expansion in Indonesia, South America and other areas.
• Markus Kröger, a professor from the University of Helsinki, Global Development Studies, will reflect then on these topics, especially from the viewpoint of the global South pulp production. 

On April 16, 2024, TreesForDev and the Global Extractivisms and Alternatives Initiative (EXALT) were happy to welcome Brazilian agroecologist Karen Nobre Krull to present and discuss her experiences with regenerative agriculture and cocoa agroforestry in a deforestation frontier in the Amazon. Krull's presentation featured comments from Ossi Ollinaho, a lecturer in Global Development Studies and a member of the TreesForDev Project team.

Working group 3: Ecological Restoration Through Tree Planting in the Global South: A Means of Achieving Climate Justice or Greening Extractivism? Ecological restoration is an important emerging topic in debates on the mitigation and governance of climate and ecological crises. This panel dialogue will examine the multiple meanings associated with ecological restoration, including the socio-political dimensions, and interlinkages to tree planting activities in the global South. 

In this lecture, organized by Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes for Hanken School of Economics, we heard from Tony Rinaudo and Judith Schwartz. These guest lecturers speak about the possibilities of widespread restoration of ecosystems with the help of trees and other techniques that regenerate soils, as well as carbon and water cycles.

The TreesForDev consortium project organized a hybrid Kickoff Seminar on October 24, 2023 at Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. During this seminar we presented an overview of the project, “The socio-ecological and politico-economic dynamics of ecological restoration through tree planting schemes in the global South” (TreesForDev). We also introduce our research team in Finland and our partners in the countries where we will do the research.