The Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week (7MFW) and the twenty-fourth session of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions, Silva Mediterranea, were held in Antalya, Turkey from 21 to 25 March 2022. Mediterranean forest weeks are one of the main fora for discussing forestry questions in the region. This year, the general objective of the week was to build a shared vision on the role of young people and rural populations in the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests, identifying opportunities offered by forest-based solutions to young generations. A strong focus was put on promoting restoration and biodiversity conservation, and on enhancing the interactions between forests and other land uses such as agriculture and pastures.

There is an urgent need to halt land degradation and restore degraded lands. In view of global and regional goals and ambitious new national commitments, it is important to identify and properly implement low-cost, long-term strategies for landscape restoration. Therefore, several plenary sessions of the 7MFW focused on forest restoration activities.

The International Association for Mediterranean Forests (AIFM), alongside Bioversity International and the FAO Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) team hosted a session on “Restoration strategies in the Mediterranean region: exploring cost-efficient interventions through assisted natural regeneration and appropriate use of forest genetic resources”. More focused on the financial side, the FLRM team presented a session on “Financing opportunities for forest and landscape restoration in the Mediterranean region”. The Mediterranean Model Forest Network organized a session on “Young entrepreneurs: how sustainable development and nature-based solution approaches can help protect the Mediterranean climate, society and development”. Both Turkey and Lebanon also presented their own national initiatives. The General Directorate of Forestry of Turkey (OGM) held a session on “Income-generating restoration activities in Turkey” and The Lebanon Restoration Initiative organized a session on “Restoring forests and landscapes for communities in Lebanon”.

Additional sessions held by key partners focused on non-wood forest products and on the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests. Overall, the 7MFW stimulated fruitful debate among stakeholders on finding appropriate solutions for the ecological restoration of forests. Important outcomes were achieved and new shared goals were set by participants.

Due to significant advancements in restoration in the past years, participants of the 7MFW endorsed the submission of the region as a World Flagship in the context of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Flagships are examples of successful ecosystem restoration that can provide inspiration to other countries for scaling up successful efforts and attracting global attention and investments. The region is represented by Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, which were among the countries that endorsed the Agadir Commitment at the Fifth Mediterranean Forest Week in Morocco in 2017. The Agadir Commitment aims to improve forest and landscape restoration (FLR), land degradation neutrality (LDN) and biodiversity conservation efforts in the Mediterranean region.

The 7MFW culminated in the adoption of the Antalya Declaration, which serves as a framework for promoting FLR, to build climate resilience, sustainability and healthy societies in the Mediterranean. It places considerable emphasis on the role that young Mediterranean generations can play in achieving this, and in creating and promoting more socioeconomic opportunities for young people in the region’s forest sector.

 For more information, please contact [email protected].

 Christophe Besacier (FAO), Lucia Rivera Lima (FAO) and Giovanbattista de Dato (FAO)