28 May 2012: At an international workshop titled “Building forest landscapes resilient to global changes in drylands,” participants discussed a restoration monitoring tool and shared experiences in forest restoration projects. They heard presentations on restoration efforts in the Mediterranean, Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The workshop, which took place from 28-31 May 2012, in Konya, Turkey, was organized and supported by Turkey’s Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs and its International Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). It was based on: the recognition that, together with desertification, climate change is an important and growing concern in drylands; and the prediction by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that climate change and desertification coupled with severe water scarcity are likely to cause a vicious circle of land degradation and forest deterioration leading to unsustainable livelihoods.

The workshop brought together some 80 forestry experts and international development partners from 24 countries who shared experiences, identified key elements of success and failure in forest restoration projects and discussed the comprehensive restoration monitoring tool, newly developed by FAO, to guide planning, implementation and evaluation of field projects and programmes.

In working groups, participants discussed: planning of forest restoration projects and their contributions to rural development; policy, governance and regulatory frameworks; production, management and transport of seeds and seedlings; and field techniques for restoration practices. The group also discussed cooperation and funding opportunities for dryland restoration projects. [Meeting Website]