EFI's Young Leadership Programme (YLP Mediterranean) is an exciting opportunity for aspiring leaders to develop their interpersonal skills and explore possible career paths in the forestry sector. The programme focuses on developing essential skills for success in any career, such as effective communication, time management, public speaking and networking, as well as including elements that help stand out from the crowd, such as storytelling and photography.
The 5-day programme is open to young professionals from across the region and beyond, whose work is forest-related, with leadership potential to interact with a network of Mediterranean peers and experts, and share practical experiences through group exercises. All editions take place at EFI's Barcelona office in the Sant Pau Art Nouveau site.
EFI Young Leadership Programme – Mediterranean 2025
Building forest resilience through climate and biodiversity-smart management and restoration
The YLP Mediterranean 2025 was organised in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean and focused on the role of forest reproductive material (FRM) in supporting forest resilience in South-Eastern Europe. The programme provided an overview of how FRM contributes to biodiversity, forest adaptation and sustainable forest management in the face of climate change. The 2025 sessions explored the science behind the selection, conservation and use of high-quality FRM, while also introducing participants to communication and storytelling tools to support outreach and awareness-raising.
As part of the programme, participants worked in teams to create blog articles, videos and photography that challenge common stereotypes about the forestry sector and promote wider public engagement.
EFI Young Leadership Programme – Mediterranean 2023
Land abandonment and cultural landscapes
The YLP Mediterranean 2023 was organised in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean and provided an in-depth understanding of the complex interaction between land abandonment, Mediterranean forests and cultural landscapes.
The programme offered an overview of the main drivers and impacts of land abandonment on Mediterranean forests and cultural landscapes. It also explored potential opportunities for sustainable entrepreneurship and biodiversity conservation. The 2023 sessions examined the role of traditional ecological knowledge, as well as the potential of innovation and entrepreneurship to support sustainable land use practices.
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EFI Young Leadership Programme – Mediterranean 2020
Mediterranean forests in urbanised societies
The 2020 Mediterranean edition of the EFI Young Leadership Programme was held online in 2021 due to travel restrictions around the global coronavirus pandemic. The 2020-2021 edition was organised in collaboration with the Barcelona Provincial Council and offered participants training, knowledge exchange and networking on Mediterranean forest-based value chains and their contribution to a circular bioeconomy, with a special focus on cities and urbanised societies.
The 2020-2021 programme delved into issues such as urban growth in the Mediterranean and how this phenomenon exacerbates current challenges for cities, the environment and people's health, while former rural communities struggle to adapt to the drastic changes in lifestyle and income generation brought about by rapid urbanisation. This background set the stage for the YLP-MED 2020-2021 dedicated to sustainable urbanised societies.
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EFI Young Leadership Programme – Mediterranean 2018
Forest-based bioeconomy
The first edition of the EFI Young Leadership Programme focused on the Mediterranean was held in 2018 and addressed a series of topics related to forest-based value chains creating sustainable value for the green economy, social innovation, entrepreneurship and green business models as well as sessions aimed at presenting participants with a policy agenda for the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests.
This first edition opened with a seminar as the Opening Event for the 2018 edition of the EFI Young Leadership Programme entitled "The role of leadership in times of transformational change: reflections on the bioeconomy", with two renowned keynotes to reflect on the importance of leadership for a sustainable bioeconomy. Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland, and Xavier Marcet, President of Lead to Change, stimulated the debate with EFI Director Marc Palahí as host.
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