4MPCW BOOK OF ABSTRACTS 

“Plant Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration in the Mediterranean”

The 4th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week (4th MPCW) is a meeting that brought together specialists and people interested in the research and management of nature, in particular the conservation of wild plants and their habitats around the Mediterranean.

For its fourth edition, the MPCW expanded its initial goal—focused on the conservation of species and the relationships between people and wild or cultivated plants– towards the complementary recovery of habitats, as a contribution to the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration.

This was the biggest edition so far, with 241 registered participants from over 20 different countries alongside the Mediterranean. More than 170 works were shared in 4 plenary talks, 69 oral communications, and 100 poster presentations divided in 9 thematic sessions.

Mediterranean Plant Conservation Weeks started under the umbrella of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016 (Ulcijn, Montenegro), and then became a recurrent event -La Valetta, Malta, in 2018, and Chania, Greece, in 2021-, where the organization has been lead by centers associated with Genmeda, the Mediterranean network of plant conservation centers.

In 2023, two of these entities, the Centre for Forestry Research and Experimentation (CIEF, Generalitat Valenciana) and the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia (BGUV) were the main agents in the organization of the MPCW, to be held in Valencia (Spain) from 23rd to 27th October 2023, with the close cooperation of several units of the IUCN and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

This congress was a meeting point where the opinions and experiences of researchers and plant managers or practitioners converged. This was accomplished by connecting experts in the fields of plant conservation and ecological restoration, being conscious that the ultimate goal of plant rescue is not possible without the full recovery of the ecological functions on site.

Additionally, the 4th MPCW was a forum where experiences from the different sides of the Mediterranean region met and established links for future cooperation projects. Specialists from Southern Europe, the North of Africa, and the Middle East found a forum for the conservation of a typical natural heritage, including plants, their habitats, and the knowledge on how to manage and use them in a sustainable way.

The 4th MPCW was a window to show research results and experiences in the form of oral presentations and posters, not only from the plant or ecological sciences but also about the relationships between the public and the plant conservation world (citizen science, ethnobotany, local involvement, bottom-up initiatives, landraces, etc.), opening a new paradigm for the next decades around the Mediterranean: The plants are for the people, but with the people.