The Mediterranean region has more than 25 million hectares of Mediterranean forests and about 50 million hectares of other Mediterranean wooded lands. They make crucial contributions to rural development, poverty alleviation, food security, as well as, the agricultural, water, tourism, and energy sectors. Changes in climate, societies, and lifestyles to create appropriate financial incentives and tools. in the Mediterranean region could have serious negative consequences for forests, with the potential to lead to the loss or diminution of those contributions and to a wide range of economic, social and environmental problems. In the future, Mediterranean forests will support agriculture and human wellbeing. It is therefore crucial to improve policies, practices, and to promote sustainable management to provide social and economic benefits as well as to increase the resilience of ecosystems and societies. This new edition of the State of Mediterranean Forests aims to demonstrate the importance of Mediterranean forests to implementing solutions to tackle global issues such as climate change and population increase. Part 1: The Mediterranean landscape: importance and threats. Despite the important natural capital provided by Mediterranean forests, they are under threats from climate change and population increase and other subsidiary drivers of forest degradation. Part 2: Mediterranean forest-based solutions. Forests and landscape restoration, adaptation of forests and adaptation using forests, climate change mitigation, and conserving biodiversity are additional and complementary approaches to address the drivers of forest degradation to the benefit of populations and the environment. Part 3: Creating an enabling environment to scale up solutions. To scale up and replicate forest-based solutions, there is a need to change the way we see the role of forests in the economy, to put in place relevant policies, more widespread participatory approaches, to recognize the economic value of the goods and services provided by forests and, ultimately, to create appropriate financial incentives and tools.

"Forest ecosystems and other wooded lands are an important component of landscapes in the Mediterranean region, contributing significantly to rural development, poverty alleviation and food security. This first State of Mediterranean Forests was produced in collaboration with Plan Bleu and is a rich source of already-available data collected by regional and international institutions in the context of other environmental assessment processes, such as the state of the environment and development in the Mediterranean process (Plan Bleu, 2009) and FAO’s five-yearly Global Forest Resources Assessment (FAO, 2010)" -- Publisher description.

"Forest ecosystems and other wooded lands are an important component of landscapes in the Mediterranean region, contributing significantly to rural development, poverty alleviation and food security. This first State of Mediterranean Forests was produced in collaboration with Plan Bleu and is a rich source of already-available data collected by regional and international institutions in the context of other environmental assessment processes, such as the state of the environment and development in the Mediterranean process (Plan Bleu, 2009) and FAO’s five-yearly Global Forest Resources Assessment (FAO, 2010)" -- Publisher description.

Mediterranean forests provide a diversity of products such as wood, non-wood forest products including cork, fodder for livestock and aromatic plants and game, all of which are important for socio-economic or cultural development and contribute to food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas. But Mediterranean forests also are facing a mix of threats such as climatic change, agricultural expansion, tourism, urban development and other land use practices that are contributing to forest area losses. Mediterranean forests will be one of the most affected forest ecosystems in the near future as temperatures will increase and rain will decrease. This book aims to provide scientific knowledge for researchers, students, local managers and policy makers. The book is divided into eleven chapters covering not only ecological, but also economic and social perspectives on climate change and Mediterranean forest management. The authors provide information about different research projects and examples related to climate change and forest natural regeneration, genetic aspects of forest ecosystems, forest fires, environmental services, traditional markets and social perspectives on adaptation in forest management.

Nearly three years ago, world leaders agreed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the central framework for guiding development policies throughout the world. This edition of The State of the World’s Forests is aimed at enhancing our understanding of how forests and their sustainable management contribute to achieving several of the SDGs. Time is running out for the world’s forests: we need to work across sectors, bring stakeholders together, and take urgent action. The State of the World’s Forests 2018 identifies actions that can be taken to increase the contributions of forests and trees that are necessary to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. It is now critical that steps be taken to work more effectively with the private sector, and the informal forest sector must be transformed in order to bring broader economic, social and environmental benefits. Seventy years ago, when FAO completed its first assessment of the world’s forest resources, the major concern was whether there would be enough timber to supply global demand; now we recognize the greater global relevance of our forests and trees. For the first time, The State of the World’s Forests 2018 provides an assessment of the contribution of forests and trees to our landscapes and livelihoods. The purpose of this publication is to provide a much wider audience with an understanding of why forests and trees matter for people, the planet and posterity.

An authoritative review of the ecology of forest birds and their conservation issues throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Forest tree breeding has been ongoing for more than 70 years across Europe. It has successfully generated improved varieties for the major economical forest tree species. They are part of the present European forestry landscape and largely contribute to intensive wood production and other forest activities. In this book, we describe the state-of-art of breeding for the main forest tree species. We provide a comprehensive, unique and up-to-date overview of the major scientific results and breeding achievements gathered from the many programmes scattered across Europe. The book is divided into 10 chapters, each as a monograph corresponding to a species or group of species Abies spp., (Larix spp., Picea abies, Picea sitchensis, Pinus sylvestris, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Mediterranean pines; Acer pseudoplatanus, Fraxinus excelsior, and Prunus avium). Each of them is written by a group of experts and focuses on the distribution and economical importance of the species; motivation for breeding and breeding objectives; intraspecific genetic variability, breeding populations and breeding strategy; forest reproductive material deployment including mass-propagation and, prospects and perspectives for joint research and breeding. The book is a unique and up-dated source of information for students, researchers and professionals interested in the genetics and domestication of forest tree species.

This book presents selected papers from the 8th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment (HAICTA 2017) which examine sustainable rural development in the context of environmental, economic, and the socio-cultural dimension. This book raises awareness of the importance of sustainable management in agriculture using examples of actual industry cases, sustainable management practices, new forms of rural cooperation and entrepreneurship.