Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

Tlemcen Declaration

Mediterranean forests for sustainable development of Mediterranean landscapes: adaptation and mitigation strategies to face with global changes?

We, participants at the high-level segment of the third Mediterranean Forest Week held in Tlemcen - Algeria - March 21, 2013, have taken note of the policy orientations proposed by experts from the Mediterranean and discussed during the week.

Convinced that forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean are an important component of our landscapes and they contribute significantly to rural development, poverty alleviation and food security of these Mediterranean landscapes.

Aware that these forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean are both sources of wood, cork, energy, food, incomes and many other environmental goods and services (biodiversity conservation, soils and water protection, recreational areas, significant potential for carbon storage) often crucial for many economic sectors of our country (food and agriculture, soils and water conservation, drinking water supply, tourism, energy and forest industry).

Whereas the global changes that affect today the Mediterranean region (changes in societies and lifestyles with, in addition, climate change) heavily mortgaging the future of these forest ecosystems and other wooded land (loss of biodiversity, increasing risk of forest fires and other biotic hazards, watershed degradation and desertification processes) and, therefore, jeopardizing the sustainable provision of these multiple goods and services to populations.

Convinced that combatting the already on going desertification in our Mediterranean landscapes should be a priority in our forest and environmental policies.

We wish that the political and administrative authorities at national, regional and local level and all other stakeholders involved in the management of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean (private or public managers and civil society) continue to develop and, if necessary, adapt their strategies and policies , including governance, for sustainable development of our landscapes.

We also ask forest managers, experts and scientific community of the forestry sector to develop and implement, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, innovative and sustainable management practices of landscapes to be disseminated and shared between countries of the Mediterranean region.

In this spirit, according to characteristics and needs of each country, we are committed to continue implementing actions and measures in order to achieve the proposed objectives in the document entitled "Strategic Framework on Mediterranean Forests: policy orientations for integrated management of forest ecosystems in Mediterranean landscapes", namely:

1) Developing and promoting goods and services provided by forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean through implementation of the following strategic lines:

• 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 resilience of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean to face global changes through the implementation of the following strategic lines:

• Promote wildfire prevention by integrating the increasing risks associated to ongoing climate change in the Mediterranean;
• Manage forest genetic resources and biodiversity to enhance adaptation of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands to climate change in the Mediterranean;
• Restore degraded Mediterranean forest landscapes.

3) Enhancing capacity of stakeholders and the resources mobilization necessary for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems and other wooded lands in the Mediterranean through the implementation of the following strategic lines:

• Develop knowledge, training and communication on Mediterranean forests;
• Reinforce international cooperation on Mediterranean forests;
• Adapt existing financing schemes and develop innovative mechanisms to support implementation of forest policies and programs on Mediterranean forests.

High Level Segment of the third Mediterranean Forest Week

Tlemcen, March 21, 2013