Importance of wooded, agricultural and pasture lands
in the Mediterranean

Key assets for sustainable development

Almost ten thousand years of increasingly intensive human presence have radically changed the landscapes around the Mediterranean. Man has gradually transformed them into a complex mosaic of gardens, fields, vineyards, olive groves, orchards, grazing lands, semi-natural forests, scrub and dry grasslands. This continuous and active human presence has strongly influenced the development of Mediterranean diverse ecosystems.

By providing multiple renewable resources, woodlands have been playing an essential role in the day-to-day lives of Mediterranean peoples as well as in their socio-economic activities.

 

Land use

Trees and forests still represent important resources (actual or potential) for diverse activities such as agriculture, livestock production, industry, handicrafts, urbanism and leisure. They contribute to the development of various activities and jobs in rural areas and help to combat poverty. Finally, they are essential to the functioning of Mediterranean ecosystems, by contributing to renewal cycles and the conservation of vital resources such as water (watershed management), wood and non-wood forest products (forestry), soils (erosion and desertification control), biological diversity and landscapes.

Nowadays, increasingly rapid changes are curbing woodlands’ renewal, with serious harmful impacts on the environment. High population density and urbanization in coastal areas, the development of mass tourism, the sharp rise in consumption and intensive farming practices have increased demand for natural resources such as water, soil and vegetation.

Although woodlands cover more than 37% of non-desert lands in the northern Mediterranean, they only represent 14% of land in the South and 5% of land in eastern Mediterranean.
This can be explained by large variations in aridity (the main feature of the Mediterranean climate is the severity of summer drought), but also by socio-economic differences:

• In the northern part of the Mediterranean basin, the migration of rural populations to cities and the concentration of agricultural production and forestry in the most fertile, best irrigated and most accessible areas have left many Mediterranean woodlands neglected. This has led to a fairly rapid increase in the forest area and the standing volume. Such conditions are suitable for the establishment and development of groups of rare species, formerly found in ancient forests that are no longer widespread in the Mediterranean nowadays. However, this may lead to a loss of heterogeneity, not conducive to high levels of biological diversity and landscape diversity, and would certainly increase fire risks.

• The southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Basin are still home to many rural communities, some of which are still growing. Woodlands, which have always been an integral part of agricultural systems, are often over-exploited today. For example, the large number of sheep and goats in the Maghreb - estimated at about 50 million – has led to the over-grazing of rangelands. Fuelwood consumption by local population is about 0.35 m3 per inhabitant per year. The continuous growth of these demands often leads to imbalances and spiral degradations (increasing demands placed on areas less and less capable of meeting them).

Such trends can only be reduced by better integrating forest policies into overall land management policies.

Silva Mediterranea, a Mediterranean cooperation tool for forest management

As far back as 1911, Silva Mediterranea was created by Mediterranean countries, which recognized the need to work together on common forest issues. It became a statutory body of FAO in 1948.

Silva Mediterranea analyses regional trends in woodland use and draws up a list of common priorities for research and studies for the forestry sector. Based on this list, member countries regularly determine areas of collaboration where they exchange information and share resources.

In 1993, following the recommendations of the Rio Earth Summit and the Paris World Forestry Congress, Silva Mediterranea prepared the Mediterranean Forest Action Programme to serve as a common reference. Several of its objectives, after updating, are currently being implemented through the national forest programmes developed by Mediterranean countries as part of an international mechanism.

In 2002, in an effort to combat poverty and participate in the implementation of the international conventions on desertification, climate change and biodiversity, and according to the United Nations Forum on Forests action plan, Silva Mediterranea decided to attach top priority to improving the forestry sector’s contribution to sustainable development. FAO has signed a partnership agreement with Plan Bleu to strengthen its activities in these areas.

The future of Mediterranean woodlands is not only influenced by technical and economic dimensions of forest production and by environmental protection issues, but also by many sectoral and intersectoral dynamics and integrated policies for rural and urban management.

In order to allow the Mediterranean forest sector to best meet the numerous expectations regarding sustainable development, public and private operators should share the same long-term view of:

• the demands for the multiple potential uses of forest resources, by assessing their ability to sustainably meet these demands,
• the ways and means (institutional, human and financial) of adjusting these uses to ensure that they are compatible with each other and within the limits of available resources,
• the values of the uses (active or passive) of Mediterranean woodlands and the direct and indirect beneficiaries of these uses, so that the overall importance of forest functions, services and products can be fully appreciated by decision-makers and funding agencies, which are asked to contribute to the implementation of improvement measures.

In view of enabling Mediterranean countries to share their experiences and analyses in these fields, a regional forum on “Forestry sector and sustainable development in the Mediterranean: challenges, policies and governance” was jointly organized in 2005 by FAO and Plan Bleu, with the support of the French government.

To facilitate the reflection and experience sharing on these issues, the Silva Mediterranea has established thematic working groups of experts from interested countries. The following six groups are currently active:

• Working group on “Forest Fires” (WG1)
• Working group on “Cork Oak” (WG2)
• Working group on “Mediterranean Forests and Sustainable Development” (WG3)
• Working group on “Forest Genetic Resources” (WG4)
• Working group on “Forests and Climate Change”(WG5)
• Working group on “Sustainable Financing Mechanisms” (WG6)

Their programme of activities for the period 2009-2012 are available on Silva Mediterranea website.

Plan Bleu has ensured the coordination and running of the group on “Mediterranean Forests and Sustainable Development” (WG3) during its first phase of activity (2003-2006) and is still in charge of it for the period 2009-2012, jointly with AIFM.

The Silva Mediterranea Enlarged Executive Committee, at its meeting in 2006, identified the following priorities for the period 2011-2012:

• Mobilize financial resources, in particular by developing regional cooperation projects, such as the recent one approved for funding by the French Fund for Global Environment (FFEM) on “Optimizing the production of goods and services by Mediterranean forest ecosystems in the context of climate change”. (more information);
• Prepare a report on the State of Mediterranean Forests (SoMF), which will be presented at the 21th session of the Silva Mediterranea Committee in 2012;
• Propose an integrated strategy for Mediterranean forests, which will be presented to member States at the 21th session of the Silva Mediterranea Committee in 2012. The first preparation workshop will be held during the MEDFORUM in November 2011 in Ramatuelle (Var, France).

More information in the Silva Mediterranea Newsletters.

A new partnership to strengthen cooperation on Mediterranean forests

The Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean Forests (CPMF), which gathers the organizations acting for regional cooperation on forests (FAO , GIZ, MAAPRAT, AIFM, ONF-I, MMFN, WWF-MedPo, Plan Bleu, EFIMED, AFD/FFEM, IUCN-Med, COFOR-International), was launched in 2010 with the aim of strengthening capacities in member countries as well as at Silva Mediterranea secretariat, in view of accelerating the implementation of sustainable forest management and the protection of services rendered by wooded ecosystems in Southern countries, in particular Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Plan Bleu, in collaboration with its CPMF partners, has contributed to the organization of the Mediterranean Forest Weeks. The first session was held in Antalya (Turkey) in 2010 and the second one in Avignon (France) in April 2011. Plan Bleu organized, jointly with AIFM, three sessions on “Forests, territories, societies” about territorial integrated and participative approaches for forest management.

See Plan Bleu’s publications on forest topic.

As part of a continuous improvement approach of its website, Plan Bleu aims to meet visitors expectations, by conducting a Satisfaction Survey available online:

http://www.planbleu.org/planBleu/enquete_uk.html

Thank you for giving us few minutes to answer this survey.

Your feed-back and comments will be more than welcome!