Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

The Strategic Framework on Mediterranean Forests

The Strategic Framework on Mediterranean Forests aims to provide a common policy direction for the integrated management of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. On the basis of information drawn from the 2013 publication, State of Mediterranean Forests, it focuses on the need to develop goods and services, promote resilience, and strengthen both capacity and resources. The framework is the result of a regional process initiated in April 2011 at the Second Mediterranean Forest Week in Avignon, France, with a first draft prepared by an expert workshop convened in Chania, Greece, in September 2012. The main objectives and strategic lines of the Strategic Framework on Mediterranean Forests (SFMF) are as follows:

1. developing and promoting goods and services provided by forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean region:

• improve sustainable production of goods and services by Mediterranean forests;
• enhance the role of Mediterranean forests in rural development;
• promote forest governance and land tenure reform in Mediterranean landscapes

2. promoting the resilience of these forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean to face global changes:

• promote wildfire prevention by integrating the increasing risks associated with ongoing climate change in the Mediterranean;
• manage forest genetic resources and biodiversity to enhance the adaptation of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands to climate change in the Mediterranean;
• restore degraded Mediterranean forest landscapes;

3. enhancing the capacity of stakeholders and the resource mobilization necessary for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean

• develop knowledge, training and communication on Mediterranean forests;
• reinforce international cooperation on Mediterranean forests;
• adapt existing financing schemes and develop innovative mechanisms to support the implementation of forest policies and programmes on Mediterranean forests.

The SFMF was shared with foresters throughout the Mediterranean region during the consultation process and endorsed by countries at the high-level segment during the Third Mediterranean Forest Week, organized in Tlemcen, Algeria, on 17–21 March 2013 by the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions–Silva Mediterranea, with the support of the Algerian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and several other members of the Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean Forests. The meeting, on the theme of “Mediterranean forests for sustainable development of landscapes: strategies of mitigation and adaptation to global change?”, was a landmark in regional cooperation on Mediterranean forests. In addition to the endorsement of the SFMF, the meeting included the launch of the first edition of State of Mediterranean Forests and the celebration of the first International Day of Forests on 21 March, which highlighted the importance of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands for Mediterranean landscapes. It also saw the adoption of the Tlemcen Declaration. The SFMF can be downloaded here:

The Strategic Framework on Mediterranean Forests