2nd Working Groups Webinar

📍 Registration:
https://natural-heritage.interreg-euro-med.eu/home/news-events/events/working-groups-webinar-29102025/ 

The end of 2025 is marked by several key political moments for the Mediterranean region, offering strategic opportunities to strengthen advocacy on ecosystem restoration:

• In the framework of the New Pact for the Mediterranean from the European Commission, the Union for the Mediterranean will organise its 10th Regional Forum which will take place in Barcelona on November 28, coinciding with the Day of the Mediterranean. It will gather the Foreign Ministers from all 43 UfM Member States, bringing together EU members and Mediterranean partner countries to address regional cooperation priorities. On this occasion, the UfM will present its way forward, anchored in the New UfM Vision 2026–2030.
• The 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the Barcelona Convention will be held from 2 to 5 December 2025 in Egypt, bringing environment ministry representatives and national focal points of the contracting parties. The Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention will formally adopt the revised Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) 2026-2035, the main strategic framework for action in the region.

In this context, this year’s Annual Institutional Dialogue will take place just prior to the UfM Regional Forum, from November 25th to 26th in Barcelona. It will maintain its focus on ecosystem restoration, framed by the recent adoption of the EU Nature Restoration Law (NRR) and the ongoing development of National Restoration Plans. Building on the 2024 edition, which focused on marine and coastal ecosystems, this year’s dialogue will address terrestrial ecosystem restoration, with a particular emphasis on forests and wetlands including freshwater ecosystems.

This webinar is organised as a preparatory and capacity-building moment. Its objective is to identify and consolidate key messages and recommendations on terrestrial ecosystem restoration emerging from the Mission’s projects. These insights will contribute to shaping the Mission’s collective voice and supporting advocacy efforts during the upcoming political events.

The webinar will take place entirely in a plenary format, bringing together all participants in a shared space for learning and exchange.

Main webinar sessions:

• Introduction presentation of the upcoming Institutional Dialogue Event, UfM Regional Forum agenda, COP24 agenda, participants & representation of the mission there. Key UfM messages
• Mission representation to policy event & side events
• Legal Instruments and Policies – Daniela Addis & Emanuela Manca
• Gathering policy recommendations from TPs for terrestrial and wetlands restoration with thematic projects such as WE GO COOP, Wetlands4Change, StrategyMedFor and Locall4Flood on priority recommendations and key policies to focus on for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems including inputs from the upcoming Strategy for Sustainable Forest Management in the Mediterranean (SSFMM))

AGENDA here.