Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

The State of Mediterranean Forests 2013

The Mediterranean region encompasses 31 countries and a wide range of political, economic, social and environmental contexts. It has an extremely rich natural and cultural heritage, and human and economic development is largely dependent on sometimes scarce natural resources and a vulnerable environment. Today, human activities are creating substantial environmental pressure, with significant disparities between the northern, southern and eastern subregions.

The Mediterranean region has more than 25 million hectares (ha) of Mediterranean forests and about 50 million ha of other Mediterranean wooded lands (where forests and other wooded lands are defined according to FAO, 2010a), and these lands are strongly interconnected with urban and agricultural/rural areas. Mediterranean forests and other wooded lands in the region make crucial contributions to rural development, poverty alleviation and food security, and the agricultural, water, tourism and energy sectors. Such contributions are difficult to quantify, however; moreover, changes in climate, societies and lifestyles in the Mediterranean region could have serious negative consequences for forests, with the potential to lead to the loss or diminution of those contributions and to a wide range of economic, social and environmental problems.

A tool for monitoring and assessing changes and risks to Mediterranean forests and other wooded lands is needed, therefore, to help ensure the sustainable management of Mediterranean forest ecosystems.

With this in mind, members of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions–Silva Mediterranea requested FAO, at a meeting held in April 2010 in Antalya, Turkey, to prepare a report on the state of Mediterranean forests, in collaboration with other institutions. It was agreed to use already available data collected by regional and international institutions in the context of other environmental assessment processes, such as the state of the environment and development in the Mediterranean process (Plan Bleu, 2009) and FAO’s five yearly global forest resources assessment.

Please download here the State of Mediterranean Forests 2013.