Young Leadership Programme 2023 at the European Forest Institute Mediterranean Facility

The Mediterranean region consists of multifunctional, human-made mosaic landscapes. These landscapes have been shaped by agriculture but also by the sociocultural practices and values of the local communities who inhabit them. However, the region has been affected by land abandonment, driven by multiple factors: economic, cultural, political and institutional, technological, natural and spatial. The loss of agricultural practices has led to ecological shifts. Decisions to leave farmland have had positive and negative impacts on society and ecology. According to the Mediterranean Forest Research Agenda 2030, land abandonment is recognized as one of the central challenges facing the Mediterranean region in the future. To better understand and address this challenge, multidisciplinary and holistic approaches are required.  

This was the focus and goal of the Young Leadership Programme – Mediterranean (YLPMED) hosted by the European Forest Institute’s Mediterranean Facility (EFIMED) from 2 to 6 October 2023 in its offices at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau centre in Barcelona, Spain. The week-long programme intended for young participants aimed to improve their understanding of the complexities of land abandonment from a scientific perspective while also providing them with soft-skills training to enhance their leadership abilities.  

The YLPMED was co-organized with the Union for the Mediterranean with support from key partners, such as the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) and the Silva Mediterranea secretariat. Key high-level speakers from these institutions along with other academics and researchers provided for a rich, varied programme. Besides land abandonment, the sessions covered many topics, such as human-made mosaic landscapes, biodiversity, biocultural diversity, wildfire risk and mitigation, agroforestry, close-to-nature forestry and forest policy.  

The technical and scientific knowledge was complemented by workshops focusing on effective communication, public speaking, storytelling and networking, providing the young participants with essential career skills. These were applied to a project that participants worked on during the week and presented on the final day, combining individual and group work. 

A field trip was organized to the Montserrat Rural Park, where four diverse local actors at four different sites shared insights about their projects and experiences linked to issues and solutions to land abandonment. Examples included the revival of dairy goat farming; organic farming as a way of revitalizing an agroforestry mosaic; a land bank model that empowers youth and revitalizes abandoned land; and a model linking intergenerational mentorship, entrepreneurship and innovation in agriculture.  

The YLPMED was attended by a total of 21 young people from an array of backgrounds, including archaeology, anthropology, socioeconomics, landscape architecture, sustainable agriculture, forestry and agroforestry. The participants’ diverse nationalities, and academic and professional backgrounds enriched the programme and reinforced the importance of multidisciplinary work.  

The collaboration and participation of Silva Mediterranea on the YLPMED is highly significant as youth participation is now a priority for the work of the secretariat, which has been strengthened by the creation of the Mediterranean Youth Taskforce, its youth-led network. 

Lucia Rivera (FAO)