MEDFORGEN launched to protect forest genetic resources across the Mediterranean
When we think of boldness, we often imagine something large, visible, and disruptive. Yet some of the most meaningful forms of boldness are rooted in what we cannot see like what quietly sustains life itself. One of these foundations is DNA, the shared code that connects all living beings and underpins the resilience of ecosystems. And DNA diversity, formally called genetic diversity, is the foundational component of biodiversity, underpinning species and ecosystem diversity. Genetic diversity is vital to resilience and ecosystem services.
From this perspective, the Mediterranean Forest Genetic Resources (MEDFORGEN) project was launched last March, marking the start of a coordinated effort to safeguard the genetic diversity of forest ecosystems across the Mediterranean region. Led by the European Forest Institute Mediterranean Facility (EFIMED), the initiative brings together ten countries in the EU Southern Neighbourhood around a common commitment to strengthen the conservation and sustainable management of Forest Genetic Resources (FGR).
The official kick-off took place over three days in Valencia, Spain, during the EFI Mediterranean Network Forum 2026. Representatives from all participating countries and partner institutions gathered for the launch sessions and technical exchanges where national teams presented their initial assessments of forest genetic resources. The meeting set the foundation for long-term collaboration and aligned priorities across the region.
MEDFORGEN aims to enhance the resilience of Mediterranean forests by improving knowledge of local genetic resources, identifying candidate Genetic Conservation Units, and promoting the strategic use of forest reproductive material in ecosystem restoration. It also supports the development of country-specific conservation roadmaps that reflect ecological conditions and socio-economic realities, while strengthening cooperation, technical capacity, and stakeholder engagement across the region.
“Genetic diversity is at the heart of forest resilience. It enables trees to recover from disturbances and adapt to climate change. Without it, we risk losing both forests and the communities that depend on them.”— Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat, MEDFORGEN Project Coordinator
Beginning of a regional journey to conservation
Over its four-year implementation, MEDFORGEN will establish national roadmaps for forest genetic resources conservation, identify Genetic Conservation Units in each country, conduct cross-border genetic characterisation of key tree species, and strengthen institutional capacity across universities and research centres. Early findings from the Valencia workshop highlight that, while conservation efforts exist across the region, systematic attention to forest genetic diversity remains limited and coordination between research institutions and forest authorities can be strengthened. At the same time, all participating countries expressed strong commitment to regional collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Species know no borders
Nature does not recognise political boundaries. A species’ genetic pool stretches across its entire geographical range, from one country to the next, across mountain ranges, sea straits, and climate gradients. To truly conserve a species, we must understand and protect this full genetic continuum, because it is within this breadth of diversity that resilience lives: the alleles adapted to drought in the south, the genotypes tolerant of frost in the north, the populations pre-adapted to the conditions that the rest of the range may face tomorrow under climate change.
This is becoming increasingly urgent as species are on the move. As climate envelopes shift, populations migrate, contract, or expand and the genetic diversity harboured at range margins, often overlooked, may hold the very adaptations that allow a species to survive. Conservation strategies confined within national borders risk missing exactly this diversity.
Building on the legacy of the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN), the Mediterranean Forest Genetic Resources project (MEDFORGEN) takes a deliberately range-wide perspective. It contributes to expanding and enriching the European Forest Genetic Information System (EUFGIS) by providing new occurrence data for European species and integrating information on additional Mediterranean species and their conservation sites, bridging the often-overlooked southern flank of Europe’s forest genetic diversity. In doing so, MEDFORGEN broadens not only the geographic scope of the information system, but its ecological and evolutionary relevance: because conserving the Mediterranean is not a regional concern, it is a continental one.
The Mediterranean Forests Genetic Resources project (MEDFORGEN) is funded by the European Union.
