1. International awareness of the dangers facing the Mediterranean forest coupled with the region’s ecological, historical and cultural unity led to the elaboration of the Mediterranean Forest Action Programme (or MED-FAP), which was launched at the 16th session of Silva Mediterranea in Larnaca (Cyprus) in June 1994. This programme had been requested by the countries of the sub-region in the recommendations of the Near East Forestry Commission (1987), Silva Mediterranea (1989) and the 10th World Forestry Congress (1991). It drew further justification from the UNCED recommendation that all countries implement a national forest action programme. More recently, among the key actions recommended by the ad hoc Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (which completed its work in February 1997) were the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national forest programmes as instruments for the sustainable management of forests and their multiple resources.

2. The general objective of MED-FAP is to combat the degradation of Mediterranean forests and improve the management of their resources so as to optimize the sustainable provision of wood and non-wood products and forest-related services. Its guiding strategy is the integrated management of rural areas and resources, dovetailing economic growth with environmental protection and taking care to involve the rural populations fully at all times. MED-FAP is a conceptual framework for the formulation, implementation and monitoring of national forest programmes, leaving each country free to pursue its chosen strategies and priority actions.

3. The process is based upon voluntary national contributions in human, institutional and financial resources and supplementary international resources if needed. FAO had already drawn the attention of donor countries and funding agencies to the implementation of regional and country-specific MED-FAP activities before the programme was launched. This promotional drive has been ongoing and a number of international organizations (World Bank, European Union) and countries (France, Italy) have expressed interest.

4. The first regional project, "International cooperation on forest fire information and prevention in the Mediterranean", was started in January 1997 with French trust fund support. This project, with a budget of US$ 350 000 and a scheduled duration of three years, aims to step up cooperation on forest fire information through regional workshops, a decentralized regional database, the circulation of information and the production of technical manuals. The project will also support research activities and specific studies in targeted countries (particularly on the causes of forest fires and the involvement of local communities in prevention and control).

5. A second regional project, "Support for the conservation, management and sustainable development of forests in selected Mediterranean countries", was begun in July 1997 with Italian trust fund backing. This project in support of MED-FAP has three principal components: (i) greater coordination among Mediterranean countries; (ii) review of forest sector and support in formulating a national forest plan or programme for interested countries, in particular Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia; (iii) support for research and development linked to the conservation and sustainable management of forests, mainly by building national capacities. This project has a duration of three years and a budget of US$ 1 750 000.

6. There are also a number of national projects for the sustainable management and conservation of forest resources.

7. In addition to its role in programme discussion, monitoring and guidance - a role which it reaffirmed at its last session in Larnaca and which it carries out through its regional research groups and its national representative members - the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions - Silva Mediterranea provides important strategic support for coordinating and implementing MED-FAP, with help from FAO. In conjunction with the Near East Forestry Commission, the Committee has served as a crucible and catalyst for discussion on forestry planning and led the debate on the general state of forest institutions on the region (in Larnaca). This has been central to the formulation of the Programme. Efforts should now focus more strongly and effectively on elements of sustainable forest management in national planning: study of species; monitoring of technical developments, particularly against desertification; cooperation on forest fires, etc. Once consolidated, these efforts will enhance conditions for programme implementation.

8. FAO and its National Forestry Action Programmes Support Unit and Forestry Policy and Planning Division are ready to help interested countries with the design, formulation and implementation of their forest programmes. Such support includes the promotion and coordination of related activities throughout the world, the production and circulation of technical notes, the organization of training workshops on strategic and operational planning and programming, and, finally, tangible support to selected national exercises through specific projects for which funding has to be sought. FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme has helped with Project "Assistance in the preparation of the national forest plan of action of Cyprus". The objective of this one-year project, which began in April 1997, is to collect and analysis data on the forest sector (from a technical, economic and institutional perspective) to help formulate a national forest action plan.

9. Regional activities under MED-FAP have focused in particular on the prevention and control of forest fires with the support of a French-funded project. Three missions of national and international experts were fielded in 1997 in Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey to determine how each country manages its forest fire data with a view to establishing a decentralized databank. This work, carried out in collaboration with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), led to proposals to improve data collection and utilization, and set up compatible national databanks with internationally-agreed and exchangeable baseline data. All forest fire data in Tunisia are now computerized and Morocco’s Forestry Administration has finalized its new data registration process. In passing, it should be noted that CIHEAM regularly offers Silva Mediterranea training and research assistance, within the limits of its area of competence.

10. In May 1997, the Associate Professional Officer appointed to reinforce the National Forestry Action Programmes Support Unit undertook a two-week mission to Tunisia and Morocco to help innovate forest fire actions based on country priorities and needs. The planned activities will help improve the collection and processing of forest fire data, producing a clearer assessment of risk, and will mean that greater attention is paid to the fire hazard in the management of forest ecosystems and neighbouring communities. A contract was signed in June 1997 with the Centre National du Machinisme Agricole, du Genie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (CEMAGREF - national centre of agricultural machinery and engineering, water resources and forests) in Aix-en-Provence, France, for the production of technical manuals - due to be published in March 1999 - on the understanding, prevention and control of forest fires in all Mediterranean countries.. These activities are conducted in close collaboration with Silva Mediterranea’s Network on Forest Fire Management (network coordinator and focal points) and are in fact integral to its programme of work.

11. Following a request by the Government, FAO financed the project "Assistance in the preparation of the National Forest Action Plan of Cyprus" under its Technical Cooperation Programme. The project began in July 1997 and the first FAO mission to prepare future activities with the national authorities should soon take place. An international expert will also be commissioned to help put together the work teams and oversee the preliminary activities.

12. Lebanon funded several initiatives to apply MED-FAP through its national forest programme. The "Project for the Rehabilitation of the Ministry of Agriculture" carried out a preliminary study for publication of the report, "State of Lebanon’s forests, existing dangers and solutions to be envisaged within the framework of a National Forest Action Plan". This report, which was published in January 1997, focuses primarily on the management of forest, fish-culture and wildlife resources, the management of protected areas, the prevention of forest fires and forest policy. Meanwhile, the European Commission has funded a three-year project, starting 1996 and implemented with the Office National des Forêts (France), to elaborate a methodology for community-involved land management and revegetation on three pilot sites, with the planned incorporation of pastoral and forestry activities. The project document was prepared by Lebanon and proposed by FAO for European Union funding under the MED-FAP.

13. A technical assistance project document was jointly formulated, discussed and approved by the Moroccan Forestry Administration and FAO in December 1996. The five-year project is directed chiefly at providing the technical assistance, training and equipment needed to develop and implement a national forest plan. This also entails preparing and establishing the enabling elements, which are institutional and economic frameworks, partnership and participatory approach systems, promotion of forest products, development of human resources, research support and so forth. The project was submitted for national funding in January 1997 in the form of an agreement between FAO and the Moroccan Government.

14. Syria has prepared a project document which was submitted to the European Commission for funding and which aims principally to reinforce national forest management capacity. Although the project does not formulate a national forest plan explicitly, the nature of its principal objective and planned activities closely resembles the preliminary work needed for the formulation of a national forest plan as advocated by MED-FAP. The project envisages a revision of forest law, the reinforcement of forest institutional capacities and exercises in planning for forest management.

15. MED-FAP still has relatively little to show after its three years of existence. However, concrete actions are beginning to take shape and countries such as Cyprus, Lebanon, Morocco and Syria have demonstrated their determination to improve their capacity for strategic planning for sustainable forest management, and are mobilizing the necessary resources. Although MED-FAP - designed to help Mediterranean countries benefit from, but also conserve, their forest resources - is well adapted to the Region’s institutional, ecological and economic context and has an internationally agreed agenda, relatively few Mediterranean countries have so far manifested an interest in employing its conceptual framework.

16. In elaborating this programme, FAO was responding to the wish of the countries of the sub-region to reinforce the conservation and sustainable development of their forest resources. Even though there are still few requests within the MED-FAP framework as such, forest planning efforts have significantly increased . Some countries were in fact already at an advanced stage in forest planning and new initiatives were introduced following the recommendations of UNCED, particularly the work of the IPF. MED-FAP should continue to act as catalyst in the sub-region and as a crucible in which effective partnerships can be forged.