Historic and methodology

Mediterranean forests and their specificities

We always consider in our interventions all areas of natural and wooded areas under Mediterranean climate, i.e. both bare and eroded areas, natural herbaceous habitats, areas of maquis, matorral or dehesa as old growth forests and productive forests (stands). These areas are either natural or artificial, or both. These ecosystems are constantly evolving. For convenience, the diversity of these areas will generally be grouped under the term "Mediterranean forests".

Mediterranean forests generate a small valuable production in comparison with other European forests. However, they provide many amenities to society. They are the subject of old and new uses (production, conservation of biodiversity, soil, water, carbon sequestration, recreation) that meet the needs of society and involve an increasing diversity of stakeholders.

A long process of preparation

Following three meetings of technical exchanges (Marseille and Rome in 2006 and 2007) in the continuity RECOFORME "structuring networks and cooperative actions on the Mediterranean forest" (Interreg IIIB) chaired by the AIFM ( and attended by over 120 participants and 15 organizations), improved governance and quality management has been collectively identified as a priority issue. Following these exchanges, 3 projects have emerged whose project QUALIGOUV.

A permanent exchange between partners of the project has improved the methods of RECOFORME (pilot sites, seminars, effective cooperation, peer group and capitalization, valuation).
The final draft was submitted the 31 October 2008 and was selected by the MED selection committee the 4 and 5 February 2009.

Coordination

The Direction of the natural heritage and biodiversity of the Region of Murcia is the project leader, responsible for coordinating the project in terms of administrative, technical and financial compliance with contractual commitments with the European Union. It coordinates the overall implementation of QUALIGOUV. It chairs the steering committee put in place during the inception seminar of Murcia.

It is supported by the AIFM, which leads the technical exchanges in seminars, specifically involved in the communication between and beyond the partnership and the capitalization of the results.

Capitalization strategy and communication

Capitalization is a strong element of our methodology. It is based on four elements:
 

• Visit each pilot site during interpartner seminars open to all where the local context and activities are shared, observed and discussed.
• Establishment of a peer group composed of independent and competent persons in charge of the critical analysis of pilot activities,
• Intervention of the AIFM as an independent partner and external from local projects in charge of moderation of the peer group,
• Conducting a mid-term audit by an independent provider to assess the implementation of the project.

These actions should help to extract best practices, analyze the bad, to propose areas for improvement, identify elements that are transferable to other Mediterranean areas. Practices may include tools, techniques and silvicultural methods, with regard to governance and quality in forest management.

Regarding evaluation, the partnership use the experience of WWF and adapt the analytical frameworks to our context and objectives.

There is no funding without communication of results and achievements. For this, the diffusion is initially at local level at each pilot site and between local stakeholders and partners. Finally, QUALIGOUV also undertakes to disseminate beyond the project, i.e. with other cooperation projects or initiatives, international agencies but also with the Mediterranean network of the AIFM. For this, a number of QUALIGOUV-specific general publications (www.qualigouv.eu, books sites, newsletters, reports ...) are completed by supports developed by each partner (posters, magazine, website, article press ...). Thus, communication is a major tool of our ambitious strategy of capitalization. It was particularly recognized as such during the capitalization day held by the MED Programme in Naples November 16, 2009.