1st Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week: “Building a regional network to conserve plants and cultural diversity”

SPNL attended the first Plant Conservation Week which was held in Ulcinj, Montenegro from Oct.24 to Oct.29. Botanists; civil society institutions working in the plant conservation field; community members; and those interested in including plant conservation programmes into their conservation or sustainable development projects, attended the workshop. The workshop was a successful opportunity for bringing together audiences and stakeholders who have worked or currently working on conserving plants and cultural diversity. It also developed framework for dialogue among stakeholders, shared successful examples of plant conservation initiatives with local communities, and to enhanced capacity building on the topic.

The main donor for this event was the MAVA Foundation  who is already supporting several initiatives for plant conservation in the Mediterranean region. MAVA also held a kick-off meeting in the same place on Oct.29-30. The aim of the workshop was to build the strategy for Target 5 around the concept of landscapes considering practices and communal management systems as important elements that fit into, or support, the functionality and character of landscapes. Representatives from SPNL and nine other organizations from the Mediterranean Basin were invited to be part of this workshop and in developing a project under MAVA’s Target 5 from year 2016 till 2022. The workshop was successful where 5 landscapes and cultural sites were selected for conservation in the Mediterranean ( of 3 landscape characters) that are beneficial for biodiversity, shaped by human activities, and sustain livelihoods.