25th Session of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions – Silva Mediterranea

On 7 and 8 November 2024, the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions – Silva Mediterranea held its Twenty-Fifth Session in Barcelona, Spain, at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau site, back-to-back with the Eighth Mediterranean Forest Week (8MFW), 4–7 November 2024. 

During the session, participants discussed Silva Mediterranea’s future activities, setting the stage for the coming years, during which the secretariat and its members will be involved in key activities.  

They then discussed the road map to establish a Mediterranean Forest Initiative (MFI). Its objective is to address the escalating risks of forest loss and degradation and preserve and restore Mediterranean forests. Drafted in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the road map was presented at the 8MFW High-Level Segment on 7 November 2024. 

The road map is expected to guide the development of the MFI. It is intended as a collaborative framework to bring together governments, regional institutions, research networks and other stakeholders working towards preserving and restoring Mediterranean forests. 

In the following weeks, member countries and regional entities will provide comments and feedback on the document, indicating any gaps and needs, providing guidance on the governance structure, and identifying the next steps proposed for implementing the road map. 

The second item on the agenda was selecting the host country for the Ninth Mediterranean Forest Week (9MFW) and the Twenty-Sixth Session of Silva Mediterranea planned for spring 2027. Italy applied to host the events, which was approved unanimously.  

The morning of 7 November was also dedicated to updating the members on the status of preparation of the State of Mediterranean Forests 2024, which will be published by the end of the first semester of 2025.  

The status of the World Restoration Flagship “Restoring Mediterranean Forests” was another key item on the agenda, along with the progress achieved in implementing the targeted support for post-fire restoration from the Multipartner Trust Fund established in the context of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030. The members were invited to complete the survey to collect information on post-fire restoration good practices by December 2024. 

Another activity is the organization of a knowledge-sharing event on post-fire restoration in the Mediterranean region, which is being prepared in Cairo, Egypt, for spring 2025, with the participation of relevant country experts. 

On 8 November, the members elected the new board of Silva Mediterranea, which is due to hold office until the next session due to be held in 2027 in Italy. Mohamed Naoufel Ben Haha, from Tunisia, is the new chair and Enrico Pompei, from Italy with Ümit Turhan from Türkiye, the two vice-chairs.  

Türkiye offered to provide human resources for the secretariat of Silva Mediterranea, beginning in September 2025 and taking over from the current Italian secretariat, whose mandate is due to end in August 2025 after 5 years of support.  

Silva Mediterranea working groups and the Mediterranean Youth Taskforce presented their main activities in 2022–2024 and provided insights into their future workplans for the next 3 years. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-MED), a Silva Mediterranea partner, presented the status of the submission that they had coordinated for the creation of the Mediterranean Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre, which has recently been established by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to contribute to implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in the Mediterranean region. The members confirmed their wish to have the committee involved in this hub and the secretariat active in this centre. 

The last item on the agenda concerned the decision to conduct a new evaluation of Silva Mediterranea. The last evaluation, led by an independent panel, was published in 2013 and focused on 2009–2012. As Italian support for the secretariat ends in August 2025, a subsequent evaluation was considered essential to provide recommendations and a perspective to the next secretariat for 2025–2030.  

Giovanbattista de Dato (FAO), Lucía Rivera Lima (FAO) and Satia Ras (FAO)