Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 8th Mediterranean Forest Week (MFW) in Barcelona, held at the unique and stunning venue of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site. It was an intense and inspiring week filled with presentations covering a wide range of topics—from strategies for restoring Mediterranean forest ecosystems to biodiversity, climate change adaptation, fire prevention, post-fire recovery, and much more.
If I had to summarize the key takeaways, a few would be:
?? Mediterranean forests are severely threatened by climate change, demanding collaborative actions that go beyond political borders.
?? ?? Mixed forests are more resilient, and the future of forestry should move in this direction.
? We need to place greater importance on assisted migration from provenances to help species adapt.
?? Fires have been, are, and will continue to be a reality, so it’s critical to increase investment in prevention, adaptation, and post-fire recovery.
?? Adaptive forest management is essential, now more than ever.
?? ?? ?? Biodiversity is a cornerstone of sustainable forestry management and must be protected in all forest management policies. We cannot afford to lose more biodiversity. Efforts are underway to develop biodiversity standards, like the Standards for Certification of Mediterranean Forest Restoration (Society for Ecological Restoration (SER))
It would be impossible to acknowledge all the speakers and participants who contributed to this pivotal week for Mediterranean forestry so I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the organizers? —FAO, European Forest Institute, Cesefor, Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya, CREAF, Silva Mediterranea, and the rest of the organisation—for their dedication in making such an essential event possible.
Let’s continue working toward the restoration and conservation of forest ecosystems, especially our Mediterranean forests ??
