The workshop will bring together countries and stakeholders from the region encompassing the whole Mediterranean to Central Asia to discuss the nexus forests - water - drylands. It is organized by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and the UNECE Water Convention secretariat, in close cooperation with the UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section, the FAO Forest Conservation Team (FOMC) and the secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

The workshop is targeted to countries in the UNECE and the Mediterranean region - including North Africa and West Asia - having semi arid and arid forest cover and is addressed to all those who are responsible for forest and water management in dry regions: first and foremost national policy makers responsible for forestry, water and related ecosystems, but also local authorities, landowners and managers, practitioners and representatives of academia, research institutes, non-governmental and other international organizations.