Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) fulfils commitments under the Rio Conventions, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Forum on Forests and the recent United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). Its importance has been highlighted in the Antalya Declaration endorsed at the seventh Mediterranean Forest Week (7MFW), held from 21 to 25 March 2022 in Turkey. 

Within this global and regional framework, the project “The Paris Agreement in action: upscaling forest and landscape restoration to achieve nationally determined contributions” helps achieve the restoration of degraded lands and positive climate mitigation and adaptation impacts, which will contribute to nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and other national and international commitments. 

One of the side events at the 7MFW in Antalya, held on 21 March, provided an opportunity to present the results of the Mediterranean regional component of the project funded by the International Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry for Environment Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (IKI-BMUV) and implemented by FAO’s Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM). The side event was co-organized with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which has given a UfM “label” to the Mediterranean component of the project. 

The side event was introduced by Alessandra Sensi, Head of the Environment and Blue Economy Sector of UfM. Sensi highlighted how the project and the Mediterranean component were aligned with the 2021 Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use adopted at the twenty-sixth United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP26), as well as with the 2021 Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Climate Action of the UfM adopted by the 42 UfM countries in Egypt in October 2021. 

As the coordinator of the FLRM, Christophe Besacier introduced the global IKI-BMUV funded project, highlighting how the Mediterranean component was part of a global effort to upscale restoration and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030. 

The activities of the Mediterranean component at regional level were then detailed by Valentina Garavaglia, who presented past and future regional workshops and introduced a technical assistance facility supporting specific demands from countries seeking to develop project concept notes on restoration. 

For Morocco, Ahlame Sghir and Fouad Malki from the Department of Forests and Water of the Ministry of Agriculture presented progress in two areas: 

1. A participatory management plan for the Maâmora forest and a socio-economic development plan have been drafted and are expected to be piloted in the commune of Sidi Taibi to restore 3 423 ha. These will be implemented with both IKI funds and domestic resources by December 2023.
2. The NDC has been revised with expert support to better integrate FLR and has been validated at national level. On 22 June 2021, Morocco submitted its revised NDC to the UNFCCC secretariat, raising its NDC ambition to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) against the business-as-usual scenario by 45.5 percent by 2030, and setting a conditional target of 27.2 percent GHG reductions.

For Lebanon, Sylva Koteiche and Zeina Tamim presented work on two fronts:

1. Two tools will become available for the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment to record, monitor and report on FLR projects, as part of efforts to support the inclusion of FLR into the NDC and the estimation of GHG capture through FLR projects.
2. Data has been collected in Tannourine and Manara to assess the capacity of rangelands, and discussions have been held with the municipalities and shepherds to better take local communities into consideration. Detailed fieldwork was conducted to capture the annual variability in feed production in the community of Tannourine, as management planning activities were delayed by COVID restrictions and the fuel crisis that hit Lebanon in 2021.
3. The Lebanese Forest Law has been revised to include rangeland management as an important component of FLR. 

The side event allowed the sharing of knowledge, experiences and expertise in the context of FLR across the Mediterranean region, emphasizing activities on the ground and contributing to a regional dynamic of restoration.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

Valentina Garavaglia (FAO)