03 Jul The Broummana Declaration was adopted
The Broummana Declaration was adopted during the sixth Mediterranean Forest Week. The Declaration deepens the discussion on the basis of the State of Mediterranean Forests 2018 on the role of Mediterranean forests in fulfilling nationally determined contributions (CDNs).
BROUMMANA'S STATEMENT ON THE ROLE OF MEDITERRANEAN FORESTS IN FULFILLING NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS
Noting that the fight against deforestation and forest rehabilitation are also explicitly mentioned in most of the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (SPANB) of Mediterranean countries under the Convention on Biological Diversity,
Taking note of the recommendations of the 2014 Ministerial Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change of the Union for the Mediterranean (UpM) on desertification/drought, biodiversity and resilience to climate change,
Confirming Agadir's commitment to a regional Mediterranean initiative on forest and landscape restoration,
Recognising the importance already placed at the national level on climate change measures based on agriculture, forestry and other land uses,
Recognising, as mentioned in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the link between promoting sustainable natural resource management and creating jobs in rural areas, which also contributes to Goal 8 of Sustainable Development "Promoting Sustained, Shared and Sustainable Economic Growth, Full Productive Employment and Decent Work for All,"
Noting that in the Mediterranean region, goods and services with economic value provided by Mediterranean forest ecosystems can serve as a basis for creating jobs for young people in rural landscapes,
We, the participants of the sixth Mediterranean Forest Week, recognize the importance of sustainable forest management and forest and landscape restoration to address the challenges of climate change in the Mediterranean.
We underline the importance of empowering young entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean region by transforming the ideas of economic and social forestry and pastoral projects into viable enterprises in a green economy to meet the environmental, economic and social challenges facing Mediterranean countries.
We also recognize as a cross-cutting issue the importance of introducing, integrating and using communication as a tool to raise awareness and promote good forest practices, including their role in achieving development goals and combating climate change.
We therefore call on national and local political and administrative authorities to strengthen sustainable forest management and the integration of forest ecosystem restoration into the nationally determined contributions of Mediterranean countries as part of their commitment under the Paris Agreement.
We also encourage all stakeholders involved in the management of forest ecosystems and other forested lands in the Mediterranean to implement forest and landscape restoration actions and to support forest initiatives launched by young entrepreneurs to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, to net neutrality in terms of land degradation. , drought preparedness and biodiversity conservation.
In this spirit, we encourage national political and administrative authorities as part of the commitments already made by countries to ensure that all conditions are met to properly fulfil the CDNs through actions aimed at
- Continue to strengthen, with the support of the scientific community, the knowledge and
sharing experience on deforestation factors, climate change threats and approaches to forest and landscape restoration, with a view to:
- quantify the contribution of carbon sinks and identify existing forest genetic resources and their adaptive capacity in Mediterranean forests,
- assess the content of higher education programmes in forestry and forest-related areas to provide a better match between youth capacity building and market demand in a green economy, and
- Assess the costs and benefits of restoration
- Create, with the support of international organizations, academic institutions and the private sector, incentives to encourage young people to participate in diverse forest education programmes, including job creation for young people, to:
- Ensure that youth entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean region can participate fully and effectively in achieving the goals set out in the CDNs,
- promote innovative ideas, connect young entrepreneurs with large networks around the Mediterranean and get them to participate in coaching and training programs to turn innovative ideas into market companies;
- Mobilizing, with the support of stakeholders and relevant agencies, climate financial resources, including those of the Green Climate Fund, which involves:
- Ensure that forest and landscape restoration options are prepared to address climate change by building capacity and taking these options into account in policy documents,
- Prepare investment frameworks that integrate sustainable forest management and restoration as a key solution to implement and implement CDNs,
- Synergize forest monitoring and reporting systems to converge, where possible, towards a set of indicators and notification systems for forest and landscape restoration compatible with all basic global forest indicators;
- Strengthen and support the work of the scientific community, in coordination with the network of communicators, to strengthen the sharing of knowledge and experience in communication on Mediterranean forests to:
- identify the elements of the structure of the forest's social representations, and
- assess the main communication vectors of the forest's social representation and effectiveness.