The value of meeting in person for face-to-face discussions and networking opportunities is not to be underestimated. Yet moving a large number of people over significant distances, in addition to the actual cost, inevitably comes also at the expense of the climate. For a meeting such as the Mediterranean Forest Week, where the focus of discussions this edition was on making Mediterranean forests more sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change and other current challenges, it was important to take this issue seriously.
The 8th Mediterranean Forest Week (8MFW), which took place in Barcelona, Spain, last November, gathered nearly 300 government representatives, forest stakeholders, and researchers from across the Mediterranean for detailed discussion on how to work together on key topics for Mediterranean forests. Organisers agreed from an early stage that, in addition to a commitment to sustainability in the scientific discussions, the event would adopt a climate climate-aware approach in its organisation.
The 8MFW Joint Organising Committee (JOC) adopted several measures to reduce the environmental impact of the event. Catering at the conference venue was mostly vegetarian and all locally sourced, where possible. The event was paperless, with digital signage and agenda, and hybrid attendance was made possible, with the event being streamed and online participant questions raised to the plenary sessions. Furthermore, a share of the registration fees of in-person attendees was used to contribute to climate change compensation.
These compensation measures entailed the purchase of a climate credit aimed at climate change mitigation and adaptation in forests in the region. The credit was bought in the framework of the System of Forest Climate Credits in Catalonia, which supports forest management for mitigating the impacts of and enhancing adaptation to environmental changes through Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Forests Projects (PROMACC). The PROMACC are operational projects implementing activities that valorise the impact of multifunctional forest management of three key ecosystem services: carbon cycle regulation, water provision, and biodiversity enhancement. Furthermore, the PROMACC have a strong connection to local communities, since they are promoted by groups of resident forest owners who are committed to make their landscapes more resilient.
The credit bought for the 8MFW contributes to the Conca Segre-Rialb PROMACC, a project promoted by the Segre-Rialb Forest Ownership Association in the towns of Ponts, la Baronia de Rialb, and Peramola (Catalonia, Spain). This PROMACC supports landscape resilience in 11 black pine and oak forests spanning over 80 hectares. As mentioned above, PROMACC project credits contribute not only to carbon storage but also to the sustainable provision of ecosystem services. In the Conca Segre-Rialb area, the PROMACC has the goal to recover productive potential and ecosystem services in areas affected by past wildfires, improve the quality and quantity of water resources, and establish agroforestry mosaic landscapes to prevent large wildfires in the future. These efforts, in return, help to untap the climate change adaptation and mitigation potential of local forests.
In practice, the implemented activities include post-fire forest thinning, enrichment planting, mature forest thinning, and preservation of trees with unique characteristics that enhance biodiversity. Each Conca Segre-Rialb PROMACC climate credit makes one hectare of the forest resilient by supporting sustainable forest management in the area, fixing 26 tonnes of CO2, providing 1198 cubic meters of water, and improving the forest biodiversity in the area by 18%.
Therefore, the Conca Segre-Rialb PROMACC climate credit follows a comprehensive approach to forest management and climate resilience. By purchasing this credit, the 8MWF went some way to address its climate impacts and supported a practical example of the initiatives for the restoration and sustainable management of Mediterranean forest ecosystems that were at the heart of the discussions held in Barcelona.
