43% of the EU surface is covered by forests and wooded areas. These surfaces constitute a set of fragile ecosystems that contribute to the fight against global warming. When managed sustainably, they are a major source of wealth and provide people with many services. Wood is the forest product that comes to mind spontaneously, but forests provide a whole variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), such as cork, resins, and edible products such as nuts, mushrooms and truffles. These NTFPs play an important role in improving the livelihoods of people living near forests who are involved in their harvesting, processing and trade. The "MEDLENTISK" project wishes to promote the exchange of good practices around the Mediterranean on the little-known lentisk tree and its fixed oil. It is still produced in a traditional way, which influences the yield and quality of the extracted product. The composition and therapeutic virtues of this oil have also been little studied, even though this shrub is found throughout the Mediterranean area and seems to have significant qualities. In order to do so, 6 partners from the South, East and North of the Mediterranean Sea have come together to improve interest and access to scientific and practical knowledge on lentisk tree’s fixed oil. The partners will meet 3 times to increase their level of knowledge on mastic tree, to exchange good practices and challenges, and to discuss the problems and difficulties of this sector. Best practices will be identified, their synthesis and translation will then be summarized in easy-to-understand formats for good dissemination to all stakeholders. The results of the first exchanges will be shared during a side event during the 7th Mediterranean Forest Week to be held in Tunisia, in Sousse, from 22 to 26 March 2021.
The main objective of the project is the exchange of good practices around the lentisk tree, a typical Mediterranean shrub found all around the Mediterranean, and its fixed oil, extracted from the drupes (fruits) of this plant. Concretely, the objectives of the project can be summarized as follows: 1 > to exchange and mutualize knowledge and good practices around the lentisk tree and its fixed oil. 2 > to increase the level of knowledge of the partners and associated partners on this subject. 3 > to improve the interest for this shrub and the access to scientific knowledge. 4 > to identify the benefits of a better knowledge of the subject. 5 > to identify the problems and difficulties of the extraction and exploitation of the lentisk oil.
43% of the EU surface is covered by forests and wooded areas. These areas, when managed sustainably, are a great source of wealth and provide many services to the population. Wood is the forest product that spontaneously comes to mind, but forests provide a variety of non-wood forest products, such as cork, aromatic and medicinal plants or mushrooms and truffles, for the best known. The valorization of these products allows the creation of new economic opportunities on forest resources. They contribute to local economies by providing many food products, as well as raw materials for local industry and crafts. The lentisk tree is a shrub that can be found all around the Mediterranean but is relatively anonymous on the northern shore, compared to the south where it is already exploited. With the MEDLENTISK project, 6 entities from 5 countries wished to exchange and share their knowledge and expertise on the lentisk tree in order to create an interest in its forest products, often unknown despite their interest.