Silva Mediterranea extraordinary session at the Twenty-Sixth Session of the Committee on Forestry

From 4 to 5 October 2022, the AFWC/EFC/NEFRC Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions, Silva Mediterranea, held an extraordinary session during the week of the Twenty-Sixth Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO 26) on 3–7 October 2022, in Rome, at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).  

The decision to hold an extraordinary session in Rome during COFO 26 was taken during the twenty-fourth session of Silva Mediterranea, held in Antalya, Türkiye, on 21–25 March 2022, to allow members to convene and catch up on updates about items that were initially discussed in Antalya. 

The proposal of the Mediterranean region to be recognized as a World Restoration Flagship in the context of the ongoing United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN Decade) was finalized and submitted by the end of March 2022. The members were informed about the status of the selection process for World Restoration Flagships.  

The members also discussed the steps ahead for the preparation of the special issue of Unasylva on the ten most recent years of Silva Mediterranea. The objectives of this special issue are 1) to promote the progress and status of activities at the beginning of the UN Decade; 2) to showcase the status of restoration efforts in Mediterranean forests, with a specific focus on recent developments and opportunities for achieving regional and global pledges; and, 3) to contribute to disseminating the restoration results that the UN Decade is promoting at the global scale. A list of potential authors and articles was discussed, and a timeline for the preparation of the special issue was presented.  

Another key item on the agenda was the discussion of the upcoming publication on the State of Mediterranean Forests 2023. The outcomes of a survey that the Silva Mediterranea Secretariat launched to collect suggestions on forestry topics of major interest to be included in this edition were presented. This opened up the discussion on topics and potential contributors. The survey, which was shared in June 2022 with the Silva Mediterranea national focal points, the Mediterranean Youth Taskforce members, several stakeholders and many others, collected 112 answers. This gave an overall picture of key topics and potential authors. 

The Silva Mediterranea Secretariat is also conducting research and collecting data on restoration efforts to advance the Agadir Commitment, adopted in 2015. This sparked lively discussion as, once the data is confirmed and validated by member countries, it will feed into an assessment report.  

The extraordinary session also afforded an opportunity for the Silva Mediterranea working groups to provide an update on their activities. The Working Group on Non-Wood Forest Products presented the results of a survey launched in June 2022 to redraft its next workplan according to the feedback and suggestions of the member countries. The Working Group on Forest Fires presented its latest workshop “Develop, adopt and transfer innovative solutions and actions to prevent and control wildfires,” which took place in Antalya on 25–27 October 2022 and was co-organized with the General Directorate of Forestry Türkiye and FOREST EUROPE. A new coordinator for the Working Group on Forest Genetic Resources was designated. The Türkiye-led Working Group on Desertification and Restoration on Mediterranean Drylands announced that it would start to develop a new workplan based on the application of the Turkish desertification monitoring system to the entire Mediterranean region.  

Lastly, the first activities and plans of the Mediterranean Youth Taskforce were presented. These include the upcoming election of a board that will manage the taskforce during its first year, in 2023. 

Giovanbattista de Dato