Silva Mediterranea

Plus de 90 ans au service des forêts méditerranéennes

Working group on Forest Genetic Resources

Genetic diversity provides the fundamental basis for the evolution of forest tree species and for their ability to adapt to changes. Conserving forest genetic resources is therefore vital, as they are a unique and irreplaceable resource for the future. Forest genetic resources management can be effective only if treated as an integral element of overall sustainable forest management. Conservation concerns should be integrated into broader national and local development programmes, such as national forest programmes, rural development plans and poverty reduction strategies, which promote cooperation among sectors. However, lack of information limits the capacity of states and the international community to integrate forest genetic resources management into overall fundamental policies. It is recognized that reliable general data on forest status and trends is of great importance to the efficient management of forest genetic resources. Forest-related information, however, largely refers to general forest resources rather than to forest diversity and variation. Availability of current and specific information on status and trends in forest genetic resources woefully inadequate, although some progress has been made at the national and sub-regional levels in the past decade.

In the early 1970s, many initiatives were launched by the various states of the Mediterranean basin regarding the exchange of forest seeds and the establishment of plantations to compare species, provenances, and progeny. Such initiatives sought to identify the sources of the seed most suited to local environmental conditions. No information is available on the present status of many of these trials, and international literature mentions only a few publications on the matter. It is feared that unless special attention is paid to this issue, the trials and their results, whether actual or potential, will be lost for good. The harm of this is made evident by the fact that the choice of appropriate species and provenances affects the success of reforestation and forest and environmental regeneration.

In April 2002 the Silva Mediterranean Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions  decided to maximize the most important results of the initiatives carried out, starting with those concerning Mediterranean conifers. Many of the trials on these species (pines, cedars, firs and cypresses) were established under a joint initiative of Silva Mediterranea and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).

France (the General Directorate of Forestry and Rural Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs) decided to support these initiatives, entrusting scientific coordination within the country to the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). Other countries agreed to take part in the project by collecting data at a national level and supporting research efforts linked with the validation and publication of data, as well as the coordination of scientific summaries.

FAO further advanced the work, with the endorsement of Silva Mediterranea Member States, with a view to prepare and publish a scientific and technical summary that would take stock of comparative trials of conifer species and provenances in the Mediterranean basin.

A workshop of a research network was held in 2007 at the CRE SEL (Arezzo – Italy) were research officers of the group met to revitalize the group activities and to summarise results after 35 years of experimental trials in the Region. Italy supplied its support to the group by editing the results and giving F. Ducci the mandate to follow the activities.

A regional Workshop on Mediterranean Forest Genetic Resources and Climate Change was organized in Chania, Crete on November 2009 by FAO and CIHEAM, in collaboration with EFIMED, EUFORGEN / Bioversity, IUFRO and the Ministry of Rural Development and Food (Greece).

The objectives of this workshop were: To consider expected climate changes and their impacts on forest ecosystems;

• To discuss the role of forest genetic resources and diversity in adaptation to climate change, with special reference to the Mediterranean region (where woodlands and rangelands are considered together with forest ecosystems);
• To consider the incorporation of conservation and management concerns of forest genetic resources into national strategies to address climate change;
• To identify research and training needs in forest genetic resources management in the context of climate change in the Mediterranean region;
• To assess the availability of forest genetic resources information and prepare for Mediterranean contribution to the first State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources report.