Forests in the Mediterranean and similar biodiversity hotspot regions are degrading rapidly due to the interaction of multiple stressors – both natural and anthropogenic. The accelerated degradation poses a serious threat to the diversity of forest reproductive material used in forest plantings.
Maintaining diversity in the forest nursery production chain requires the application of serious and detailed certification criteria.
There is a need to initiate a process to collect, catalogue and combine the existing knowledge on the availability and use of forest basic reproductive material in the Mediterranean basin to achieve the harmonization of all steps required for its production and distribution.
To reach this goal, increased awareness by nursery managers, forest managers and owners has to be stimulated on the importance of preserving the genetic variability of forest reproductive material throughout the nursery system, as it represents an active form of adaptation.