Status of the Agadir Commitment five years after its adoption: the contribution of Türkiye and Algeria

The last extraordinary session of Silva Mediterranea, which was held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 4 and 5 October 2022, discussed the progress made since the Agadir Commitment five years ago. 

The Agadir Commitment, endorsed in 2017, encourages management actions in Mediterranean forest ecosystems and other wooded lands that strengthen restoration efforts.

The goal of this commitment is to potentially restore 80 million hectares (ha) of lands in the Mediterranean area (40.2 percent of the Mediterranean, as defined by FAO Global Ecological Zones). In particular, countries are committed to restoring at least 8 million ha of degraded lands by 2030 via dedicated restoration actions. The overall objective is to reverse land degradation, restore the composition, functioning and sustainability of ecosystems, thus contributing to improving the livelihoods and well-being of local populations.  

The Silva Mediterranea Secretariat carried out a dedicated survey for countries to provide information and data on the number of hectares under restoration since 2017 to date, that is, requiring not only quantitative data, but also specific information on activities affecting restoration, as well as the ecosystem involved. Where no information was available, the Silva Mediterranea Secretariat conducted research in parallel by consulting relevant literature, such as scientific articles, reports and projects. However, this data is yet to be validated by the countries. 

Türkiye is facing the negative effects of climate change. Deforestation, ecosystem degradation and natural disturbances such as forest fires and floods are the main threats affecting Turkish forests. The country has thus taken concrete engagements and action to address these global problems, including by endorsing the Agadir Commitment. Türkiye has committed to restoring 100 000 ha of degraded land annually since endorsing the commitment, achieving 533 000 ha of restored land at the end of 2021. Specific activities include the restoration of forest areas, particularly in forests affected by fires, and the improvement of degraded forests through artificial tree planting and silvicultural practices. 

More recently, in 2019, Türkiye joined the Bonn Challenge, pledging to restore 2.3 million ha of forests in the country by 2030 using sustainable and integrated management actions. 

Algeria has joined several international programmes on restoration, namely AFR 100 (restoring 100 million ha of deforested and degraded lands in Africa by 2030), the Bonn Challenge (restoring 350 million ha of forest landscapes by 2030 at the global level) and the Agadir Commitment. Five years after endorsing the latter, Algeria has restored 52 650 ha (out of the planned 79 946 ha). The restoration programme is developing several activities, such as the reforestation and enrichment of forests to expand the forest heritage; developing arboriculture in mountain areas; sustainable land management and restoration practices in watersheds; rehabilitating and restoring forest landscapes after fire; improving climate resilience in steppes and dry forest areas of the Algerian green dam and protecting lands against degradation in steppes and Saharan areas; rehabilitation and development of the argan tree; launching an integrated rehabilitation and sustainable development project in cork oak forest landscapes over an area of ​​400 000 ha; launching two forest inventory studies to establish a national forest strategy and forest economy based on sustainable management; and, developing actions for the sustainable management of Aleppo pine forests (up to 850 000 ha) over the next three years (2023, 2024 and 2025) to ensure the regeneration and health of this species. 

Giovanbattista de Dato and Giovanni Di Matteo