The Antalya Declaration

The Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week, held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 21 to 25 March 2022, culminated with the adoption of the Antalya Declaration.

It serves as framework for promoting forest and landscape restoration to build climate resilience, sustainability and healthy societies in the Mediterranean, and it highlights the importance of the role that younger Mediterranean generations play in achieving this.

The Declaration builds on the foundation of existing national commitments and international agreements, and calls for political and administrative authorities at the regional, national and local levels to reinforce and promote the restoration of forests and ecosystems in their strategies and plans. It also encourages all stakeholders involved in the management of forests and ecosystems in the region to implement and scale up restoration actions, and to support younger and future generations to contribute to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Read the Antalya Declaration here.

The Mediterranean Youth Statement of the 7th Mediterranean Forest Week 

The Mediterranean Youth Dialogue of the 7MFW gathered young people of diverse backgrounds, and diverse areas living in the Mediterranean, to converge and discuss the most prominent issues affecting youth involvement in forest restoration initiatives. As a result, the Youth Statement, which summarizes the discussion and includes specific recommendations for a wide variety of stakeholders, was presented at the High-Level segment of the 7MFW. 

Read the Youth Declaration here.

Agenda and secretariat notes of the 24th session of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions - Silva Mediterranea

The Secretariat Notes introduce the main Items to be discussed during the 24 th Session of the Committee of Silva Mediterranea. Click on the following links to read the notes:

• Agenda Twenty fourth session of Silva Mediterraea
• The State of Mediterranean Forests 2023 - Secretariat note 7 item 7 
• Unasylva Special Issue on the last ten years of Silva Mediterranea - Secretariat Note 6 Item 6
• Alignment of Silva Mediterranea with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and Applying For World Flagship Status for the Mediterranean Region’s Restoration Efforts - Secretariat Note 5 Item 5
• Implementation and Progress of the Agadir Commitment Five Years after its Adoption - Secretariat Note 4.1 Item 4
• Activities, Reorganization and Work Plans of the Working Groups (2019–2021) - Secretariat Note Item 3

The Brummana Declaration

The role of Mediterranean forests to fulfill the Nationally Determined Contributions

The Brummana Declaration was adopted during the Sixth Mediterranean Forest Week, held in Brummana, Lebanon from 1-5 April 2019. This Declaration will serve as the framework for discussions regarding the role of Mediterranean forests to fulfill the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Consistent with Silva Mediterranea's strategies, the Declaration will combine the commitments of the Agadir Commitment with the NDCs under the Paris Agreement. The Declaration also highlights the importance of empowering young entrepreneurs as well as the communication used to achieve this. Click here to download the Brummana Declaration.

24^th session of the FAO Committee on Forestry

The 6^th Mediterranean Forest Week

Chadi Mohanna, Director of Rural Development and Natural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Lebanon, explains why the 6^th Mediterranean Forest Week (MFW), taking place in Lebanon in early April 2019, is so important for the region and the sustainable management of its forest resources. A recognized, broad multi-stakeholder platform, each MFW has had a particular focus, and in Lebanon it will be the Paris Agreement. The 6^th MFW also aims to raise the profile of Mediterranean forests, highlighting their important social significance for the Mediterranean populations and countries and their central role in developing resilience in addressing climate change.

The importance of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions-Silva Mediterranea

José Manuel Jaquotot, Chairperson of Silva Mediterranea, explains why the Committee is such an important, collaborative FAO body for the countries of the Mediterranean region, addressing major forestry-related problems common to Silva Mediterranea member countries. He continues by describing the Agadir Commitment, a landscape-restoration and landscape-degradation initiative endorsed in Agadir Morocco in 2017 that aims at restoring, on a voluntary basis, 8 million hectares of land in the region by 2030, facilitated and monitored by Silva Mediterranea.

The Agadir Commitment

Improve Forest and Landscape Restoration, Land Degradation Neutrality and biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean 

The fifth Mediterranean Forest Week, held in Agadir, Morocco, culminated on March 24, 2017 with the "Agadir commitment" endorsed  by ten countries - Algeria, France, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey – and strongly supported by several international organizations -  to  improve Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR), Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and biodiversity conservation efforts in the Mediterranean region. This Agadir Commitment proposes to establish a new Regional Mediterranean Initiative on FLR to support the achievement of the Bonn Challenge and Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG15). It also encourages political and administrative authorities at the national level, as well as stakeholders involved in the management of Mediterranean forest ecosystems and other wooded lands, to strengthen their respective FLR efforts in the context of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 of the United Nations Forum for Forests (UNFF) and in line with the global FLR objectives of the Rio Conventions and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Click here to download the Agadir Commitment.