Scientific cultivation and green development to enhance the sustainability of eucalypt plantations is a conference of IUFRO Working Group 2.08.03 – Improvement and Culture of Eucalypts. It will be hosted jointly by the Chinese Society of Forestry and the Chinese Academy of Forestry. The conference will include invited and contributed presentations and posters, discussion sessions, business meetings and in-conference and post-conference field tours. Selected eucalypts are some of the fastest growing forest plantation species in the world. Today the global plantation area of such eucalypts totals nearly 20 million hectares, occupying around 15% of the world’s total forest plantation estate. Throughout many tropical and temperate regions planted eucalypts supply substantial quantities of wood and fibre, building materials, domestic and industrial fuel whilst also providing environmental protection and often serving amenity roles. In Australia South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Portugal, Indonesia, China, India and many other countries they provide the raw materials for major processing industries which in turn provide important sought after commodities. Eucalypts have become some of China’s most important forest plantation species, with their current area estimated to be over 4.0 million hectares in this country. In southern China they are a common part of the country’s rural landscape. As well as substantial plantation areas to be seen on poorer quality, non-agriculture lands in China’s southern provinces, they are also commonly seen planted along roads, in landscaping projects and around villages. Whilst the eucalypt plantation industry in China has attracted investment by a number of very large growers, including a number of high profile multi-national companies, the majority of the resource has been established by small and medium sized growers. Although eucalypts account for less than 8% of China’s total area of forest plantations, they now account for over 30% of the official forest plantation wood harvests. Guangxi province alone has over 2.0 M ha of the country’s eucalypt plantations and in 2013 the harvests from these plantations exceeded 24 M m3. Consequently, it is fitting that Nanning as the capital of Guangxi province has been chosen as the venue for this important meeting of the IUFRO Eucalypt Working Group. We invite you to join us in Nanning in October 2014 for presentations and discussions on cutting-edge forest science and management practices relating to eucalypts along with networking, field trips and much more.