SHORT COMMUNICATION OPEN ACCESS Stocktaking forestry knowledge in Eastern Mediterranean: a glimpse on where do practitioners stand Elsa Sattout *1 , Ghaleb Faour 2 and Nadia El Sarraf 3 1 Institute of Urbanism, Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, University of Balamand, Sin El Fil 55-251 - Beirut, Lebanon. 2 National Coun- cil for Scientifc Research, P.O.Box: 11-8281, Riad El Solh 1107 2260, Beirut-Lebanon. 3 Faculty of Sciences, Istanbul University, P.O.Box 34134 - Istanbul, Turkey. Forest Systems Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) Abstract Aim of the study: To identify the lines of research initiatives and programmes on forest ecosystem and trees and shed lights on the need of new insights in forestry sector. Area of Study: Eastern Mediterranean countries (i.e. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey). Materials and Methods: Online assessment through search on Google, Science Direct, Tandfonline, Forestry related journals, PLOS ONE, FAOSTAT, FAO-Agris, Unasylva, and Research Gate. Direct contacts were made with researchers at universities and professionals from international development organisations. Main results: The highest contribution in research is recorded in Turkey, followed by Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Forest ecosystem functioning was ranked frst in the research thematic areas, followed by forest ecosystem management. Research interest focuses on limited genera of coniferous and broadleaf trees. Emerging needs feature the execution of comprehensive national and regional stocktaking exercises to harmonize research agendas; ensuring synergies between international agreements’ goals (e.g. SDGs) and national policies instruments (e.g. NBSAPs); alignment of research agendas with national and international related frameworks; revisiting governance structure and regulatory measures and laws in the forestry sector. Research highlights: Insights put in the interface a new outlook on the leadership profle and foundation of interdisciplinary communities of practices. Rethink academic forestry related programmes and transform the approaches adopted to aim for more inclusiveness leading to stronger knowledge and coherent and successful practices in forestry. Keywords: demining database; legal preparedness; native trees; forest governance. Supplementary material (Tables S1, S2 and S3) accompanies the paper on FS website. Correspondence should be addressed to Elsa Sattout: esattout@alba.edu.lb Funding: The authors received no specifc funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Copyright © 2017 INIA. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-by) Spain 3.0 License. Citation: Sattout, E., Faour, G., El-Sarraf, N. (2017). Stocktaking forestry knowledge in Eastern Mediterranean: a glimpse on where do practitioners stand. Forest Systems, Volume 26, Issue 1, eSC01. https://doi.org/10.5424/fs/2017261-08970 Received: 16 Nov 2015 Accepted: 07 Mar 2017 26(1), eSC01, 5 pages (2017) eISSN: 2171-9845 https://doi.org/10.5424/fs/2017261-08970 Introduction In the past decades, the scope of regional and national assessments led by international organizations, inter-governmental agencies, academic and research institutions have evolved over time to respond to the needs of forests conservation and management in Eastern Mediterranean Countries (EMCs). Eastern Mediterranean forests cover approximately 14% of the total forest areas in the Mediterranean region. They are estimated at a total of 22.6 million ha ranging from 1 to 15% of the total countries’ area (FAO, 2013). They harbour 36 endemic conifers (Blondel et al., 2010) and a remarkable concentration of economically important species (Merlo & Croitorou, 2005; Di Matteo et al., 2015), particularly crop wild relatives (Heywood, 2008). Mediterranean landscapes feature long-lasting relationships between humans and forests for almost 10,000 years (Blondel & Médail, 2009), which emphasize the importance of having holistic view of forests and building novel insights on their conservation and management. For more than two decades, the design of forestry research programs in EMCs has been evolving to serve governments needs and develop their institutional capacities. Apart from this, countries have either implemented stand-alone initiatives or worked on collaborative projects within regional or sub-regional context. Those have brought up a mass of