Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week (VII MFW) - 21-25 March 2022, Antalya, Türkiye

Forest and ecosystem restoration for the next Mediterranean generations

Mediterranean forests are part of multifaceted landscapes but strongly affected by centuries of human intervention. Despite an increase of 1.8 million hectares of forest between 2010 and 2015, there are 80 million hectares of degraded land, including forests, in the Mediterranean. Under such circumstances, forest ecology restoration may be an important action to restore these lands and consequently bring them to a level of health and vigour and facing the threats due to global changes. The importance of the ecological restoration actions in natural ecosystems is also recalled by the recent United Nations initiative (i.e., UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030).

Mediterranean forests also provide valuable non-wood forest products (cork, chestnut, nuts, resins, mushrooms, aromatic and medicinal plants) and multiple ecosystem services (soil erosion control, water regulation, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, microclimate regulation), some, but not all, have been included in robust value chains to reach the market. For instance, economic benefits could be derived from non-wood forest products and services that forests can provide, although several bottlenecks need to be solved to have these values recognized.

At the sixth Mediterranean Forest Week held in Brummana, Lebanon, in April 2019, young Mediterranean professionals in the fields of forestry and environment made a vibrant call for more forest-related job opportunities to tackle environmental challenges that they will have to face in a changing global environment. Young people in the age range between 15-24 years represent 14% of the Mediterranean population, a rate that is trending upwards. The proportion of youth that is not in education, employment or training ranges between 7 and 33% depending on the country and there are significant disparities between sub-regions and according to gender. Building a bridge between the forest and the labour force of young Mediterranean people can make a difference and give value to the goods and services provided by forests, while implementing forest-based solutions. Improving the social perception of forestry, directing forest management towards participatory approaches and co-management, better communicating on forestry, and aligning forestry education and training with current challenges are key activities in this regard. Furthermore, in order to bridge the afore-mentioned gap, one must open the circle and add components like cities, crops, watersheds, and all those components, which are not part of the forest but interact and interdepend with forests at the landscape level.

The themes of the Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week relate to the following:

• Youth and green jobs: provide opportunities using Mediterranean forests
• Forest and landscape based solutions: - degraded forests, desertification and forest fires
• Forest-based opportunities with a focus on youth generations and gender employment
• Environmental opportunities: EU Green Deal, Ecological Transition and New EU Forest Strategy
• Social and cultural dimension of Mediterranean forests
• Management of Mediterranean forests in view of post-pandemic scenarios
• Non-wood forest products of Mediterranean forests and their relationships with sustainable food systems
• Innovation in Mediterranean forests: case studies and call for actions
• Communication strategies, knowledge transferring and sharing experiences in Mediterranean forests
• Training and giving experience

 Objectives

• Identify opportunities offered to young people by forest-based solutions in the Mediterranean and anticipate possible bottlenecks so that these opportunities become necessities;
• Capitalize on successful experiences combining innovative forest management and local populations – particularly the youth – and share this experience among countries for possible replication;
• Promote landscape approaches for Mediterranean forest, with focus on restoration and conservation of biodiversity, to open the forest more widely to populations and neighbouring sectors (e.g. cities);
• Mobilize all stakeholders involved in the integrated management of Mediterranean forests to facilitate the integration of young people into forest-based solutions;
• Build a common vision of the role of young people in the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests in a changing world.

Languages

The official languages of the Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week are English, French and Türkish. Simultaneous translation will be available during the plenary sessions.

Target audience

The Mediterranean Forest Week brings together decision-makers from the Mediterranean region; national and local governments; technical and scientific organizations; forestry experts and managers; forest owners; environmental organizations; NGOs; investors and key donors; young professionals; media; scientists and academia; stakeholders from forest-related sectors (water, agriculture, cities).

Mediterranean Youth Dialogue

The Mediterranean Youth dialogue has the objective to provide a platform to bring youth from the Mediterranean region, including rural youth and youth organisations, together to discuss common challenges and opportunities, showcase success stories and share experiences, good practices and lesson learnt for forest and ecosystem restoration.

Through a bottom-up approach, it will contribute to the participation, recognition and visibility of youth in the forestry sector and present opportunities to find a unified youth regional voice to share recommendations to High-Level practitioners and decision makers through a statement, signed by the participants and youth-led organizations.

For more information, visit the 7MFW website: https://vii-med.forestweek.org/content/mediterranean-youth-dialogue

Call for posters from youth

The seventh MFW facilitates the cooperation among the research community, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders, a poster session will take place during the Week in order to contribute to the creation of an environment for dialogue and knowledge sharing.

Young professionals, researchers and students (between 18-35 years old) in the forest sector in the Mediterranean are invited to submit their posters to contribute to the content of the seventh Mediterranean Forest Week until Monday, 28 February 2022. 

Proposals for posters must be submitted using this form and should address themes related to the topic of the seventh MFW. 

The posters will be reviewed to select the best submissions to be exposed both physically and virtually during the Week. Note that the selected posters do not include sponsorship to travel to Turkey to attend the seventh MFW. 

The first place winner will receive a full sponsorship to attend the XV World Forestry Congress in Korea (2-6 May 2022), including the Congress' fees, airfare ticket and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA). The second and third places will receive a free full registration fee for attending an online course on restoration addressed to young professionals with the Environment, Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI) of Yale University during the second semester 2022.

For more information, visit the 7 MFW website: https://vii-med.forestweek.org/content/open-call-poster-session

Registration

The seventh Mediterranean Forest Week will take place in Antalya, Türkiye. The venue will be the Limak Limra Hotel & Resort, Due to the evolving conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Week will also allow participants to participate remotely. Details and rates for the registration can be found here.

The Limak Limra Hotel & Resort is also suggested for accommodation to participants, as they will be able to benefit from a preferential rate. Please read more about accommodation here.
 

Contacts

Secretariat of Silva Mediterranea

[email protected]