“We have to prepare the forests of the future so that future generations can also benefit from them”, said Fady Asmar, FAO project manager during a recent training on forest management. The training was organized by FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, in the context of the FAO project “Smart Adaptation of Forest Landscapes in Mountain Areas” (SALMA).

Sixteen engineers and forest guards, including eight women, from the department of the Rural Development and Natural Resources at the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, participated in the training on the third and fourth of February 2020. They were introduced to the principles and practices of sustainable forest management planning. The participants raised and discussed the issue of fire and post-fire plans management, as well as questions such as: what is the best time for pruning? When to apply tree thinning? What is the difference between selective cutting, recovery and improvement cutting? How to sustain forests by managing their production?

The trainers answered all of these questions using practical and clear information and pictures.

The training was an opportunity for participants to exchange expertise, share different points of view regarding forest planning and management, and build their capacities in these topics. They are expecting a field visit to apply the theories and concepts they have been trained on.

The “Smart Adaptation of Forest Landscapes in Mountain Areas” (SALMA) is a project implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). It is the largest FAO forestry project in the Near East Region. The project aims at enhancing the resilience of vulnerable rural communities, their livelihoods in mountain areas by increasing the forest cover and implementing sustainable forest management.