58. Mr. Malagnoux, Secretary of the Committee, introduced document FO:SCM/92/10 (Annex E) on the role of the forest in protecting the Mediterranean environment. This item had been included in the agenda both because it was useful for those responsible for forestry in the region to debate the role of forests and forestry in safeguarding the environment, within the perspective of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, June 1992), and because of the international community's growing concern for the conservation of biodiversity and the interactions between forests and climate change.
59. The Committee considered that the Secretariat note constituted a useful basis for its discussions on the subject. It wished, however, to supplement its content and to correct and qualify some of the considerations made in it.
60. With regard to forest fires, the Committee stressed the negative consequences of the lack of appropriate management of forest areas, and the need to have a clearer picture of the underlying causes.
61. The Committee also emphasized the fundamental importance of protecting ecosystems, as well as biological diversity. It drew attention to the need for appropriate silvo-pastoral management, the usefulness of water management techniques in the control of desertification, the participation of livestock raisers and the populations concerned in the restoration of degraded forest areas, and the importance of microbiological systems in nitrogen fixation techniques for restoring the fertility of the poorest soils.
62. The Committee noted the potentials offered by introduced species for the production of environmental goods and services, but stressed the need for an appropriate forest system that would be compatible with natural ecosystems.
63. Certain delegations emphasized the interest of extending State ownership to forest lands threatened by conversion to non-sustainable uses, and the danger that the massive privatization of forest land could present for the maintenance and sustainable development of the forests.
64. Certain delegations underlined noted with interest Unesco's actions for conservation of the Mediterranean ecosystems and WMO's programmes on climatological watch and the monitoring of factors affecting the climate.
