High-Commissariat for Water, Forestry and Combating Desertification of Morocco (HCEFLCD)
Ministry of Agriculture of Algeria/General Directorate of Forestry
Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia/General Directorate of Forestry
Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon/Natural Resources Department
Ministry of Water and Forestry of Turkey/General Directorate of Forestry
German Development Cooperation (GIZ) / regional project ?Adapting Forest Policy Conditions to Climate Change in the MENA region?
FAO/Silva Mediterranea Secretariat

The side event will highlight the contribution of MENA forest ecosystems to societies in the MENA region, especially in regard to climate change. The initiatives of the forest administrations involved in the Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean Forests (CPMF) which promote the sustainable management of forests with a view to improving the resilience of MENA territories and societies to Climate Change will be presented and discussed with participants.

The side-event will comprise three parts:

? Short presentations on:

o the regional cooperation between forest administrations of the MENA region promoting the sustainable management of forests ;

o the role of forest ecosystems? goods and services in climate change adaptation and innovative initiatives from the forest administrations in the MENA region ;

o the contribution of the MENA forest sector to the Rio+20 outcomes and recommendations.

? Round-table with representatives of the forest administrations

? Poster exhibition in the side event room

Exact title of the side-event:
?Mediterranean Forests for Development: a key for adapting policies, territories and societies to climate change in the Middle East North African region?

The work undertaken in the context of the Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean Forests (CPMF) already demonstrates the important benefits resulting from sustainable forest resource management, particularly in terms of attaining the objectives stipulated by the Rio conventions: UNFCCC, UNCCD and CBD. Given the specificities of the forests on the Southern rim of the Mediterranean, they contribute to various social, economic and ecological services provided to Mediterranean societies, thus deserving particular attention on the international level.

Therefore the forest administrations of the CPMF?s partner countries, who are also members of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions Silva Mediterranea, i.e. Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, are willing to organise jointly a side event at UNCSD 2012 to communicate to a large audience their shared messages.

The side event will highlight the significance and efforts of the forest sector of the MENA region regarding the two main themes of UNCSD 2012, in particular for:
1. supporting the national economies in terms of poverty reduction (Theme 1 - Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication),
2. adapting their policy and institutional frameworks in view of emerging challenges such as climate change which further emphasise the need for better cross-sectoral coordination (Theme 2 - Institutional framework for sustainable development).

Beyond the thematic connections between the content of the side-event and the Rio+20 conference (themes 1 and 2 mentioned above), the side event will also highlight the contribution of the MENA forest sector to the seven critical issues defined by the conference: jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans and natural disasters.

The duration of the side-event will be 1 hour 30 minutes precisely and it will be composed of three short sessions, as follows :
? Short presentations (30? alltogether) on :
o the regional cooperation between forest administrations of the MENA region promoting the sustainable management of forests (10? by High-Commissariat for Water, Forestry and Combating Desertification of Morocco);
o the role of forest ecosystems? goods and services in climate change adaptation and related innovative initiatives from the forest administrations in the MENA region (by Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia, 10? given their experience in valuing the importance of Forests Goods and Services);
o the contribution of the sustainable management of MENA forests to the Rio+20 outcomes and recommendations (10?,by an expert to be determined who will prepare in advance a short paper of 2 pages maximum with the 10 main messages to be proposed for mainstreaming in Rio+20 outcomes and recommendations).
? Round-table with representatives of the forest administrations (40? in the form of a questions and discussion session with the audience, which should lead to a revised version of the short-paper presented beforehand)
? Poster exhibition in the side-event room (one poster by country/key thematic), to be combined with informal discussions around Mediterranean food (20?, here we should think of dishes/finger-food with non-wood forest products from the CPMF-partner countries: for instance food products based on Moroccan Amlou, Turkish honey and hazelnuts, Lebanese thym, Tunisian pine kernels, etc.... Also with good traditional drinks: Lebanese jelab, mint tea, etc)