The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in collaboration with the Biosphere Reserve of Sierra de las Nieves in southern Spain organized a five-day regional workshop on habitat mapping in Important Plant Areas (IPAs). This workshop's main objective was to provide participants with the practical skills needed to map habitats in IPAs, through both computer sessions and training in the field.

The technical training component was provided by experts from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh/Centre for Middle Eastern Plants (RBGE/CMEP), who assisted about 20 participants from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Macedonia, Morocco, Montenegro and Tunisia. The training focused on developing basic skills in using free QGIS software, in addition to field surveying techniques to verify habitat mapping and to assess the utility of species data in verification and zoning plans.

After their training, the participants were asked to map habitats in selected IPAs using their newly acquired knowledge, with the aim of helping management planning in those areas. The IPAs chosen were Jbel Bou-Naceur and the Eastern Atlas National Park IPA in Morocco, Park National de Gouraya and the Aures-Cheila IPA in Algeria, and Sannine-Knaisseh and Nahr Ed-Damour in Lebanon.

This workshop was one of the activities scheduled in the project ‘Conserving wild plants and habitats for people across the Mediterranean', which started in September 2014. This ambitious initiative aims to develop plant conservation actions in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (including North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans) by combining the experience and expertise of Plantlife International and IUCN.

For further information, please contact: Teresa Gil

Photo: Important plants on Ulcinj Long beach (Montenegro) - Calystegia soldanella -- © Natural History - Museum of Montenegro