FAO celebrates International Forestry Day with Tunisia

Together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Hydraulic Resources and Fisheries, and members of civil society represented by the Bizerte Smart City Forum Committee, FAO celebrated the International Day of Forests under the theme, "Forests and Sustainable Cities".

The event took place at the Errimal Forest, an urban forest located at the entrance of the city of Bizerte which is considered an example to emulate. Present at the ceremony were the Governor of Bizerte, the Director General of Forests, as well as various representatives of public institutions, civil society and professional organizations.

For Tunisia, the strategic objectives of its latest National Strategy for the Forestry Sector (2015-2024) focus in particular on increasing the rate of forest cover with the planting of 160,000 hectares, creating 320,000 hectares of forests and increasing by 90% the developed areas, together with an increase in the number of protected areas from 17 to 27.

In his opening speech, Mr. Boubacar Al-Karay, Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, commended the important role played by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Forestry Sector with a view to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. He affirmed that FAO "plays an important co-operative role in developing national forest plans, policies and programs. Its active role of assistance and technical support ... is coherent, integrated and fits into sustainability through an approach that considers the transversality of urban and rural development".

Mr. Michael Hage, Coordinator of FAO in North Africa and FAO Representative in Tunisia took this opportunity to salute Tunisia's efforts in preserving and developing its forest heritage through the implementation of important programs and projects that have increased the rate of forest cover from 6.93% in 1999 to 8.36% in 2017. The celebration of this day is an opportunity to assess the situation of urban forests in Tunisia. He recalled that, "Tunisia has managed to gradually evolve its management approach towards a participatory approach involving the forest population, which has organized itself into development groups through several cooperation and partnership projects with FAO. The aim is to put in place a co-management approach between the public administration and the forest population as part of a win-win partnership that would ensure the sustainability of these resources. The ambitious project of integrated landscape management that the Tunisian government has just launched is part of this approach.”