RESTORATION IN THE MODEL FORESTS - Episode 3 - France

In France, restoration takes shape through the recovery of forest-based economies, local knowledge, and the cultural relationships that connect people to Mediterranean landscapes. This is the path followed by the Provence Model Forest , created in 2013 in the territory around the massifs of Garlaban, l’Etoile, les Maures, and Sainte-Baume. Here, the forest is not seen as a distant natural refuge, but as a living space whose future depends on the relationships people are able to rebuild with it. Climate change is transforming these landscapes through drought, fire, and ecological stress, making it impossible to separate conservation from adaptation, or biodiversity from the social and economic life of the territory. “In a context of climate transition” , says Jean-Laurent Félizia, president of the Provence Model Forest, “we aim to be optimistic and objective. Our work carries a lot of hope for the territories, it naturally brings reconversion, and a source of well-being, a source of purpose. For a future that is as liveable as possible” . The episode follows this tension through the story of cork oak, one of the emblematic species of Provence. Once at the center of a thriving local economy, cork gradually lost its place in the territory, and with it a whole set of practices, skills, and forms of attention to the forest. The work of the Provence Model Forest begins precisely here: in the effort to reactivate interest, recover knowledge, and imagine new uses for a material that belongs both to the history and the future of the landscape. What emerges is a vision of restoration that is both practical and cultural. Craftsmanship, design, public events, and professional training become tools for making the forest visible again, for creating new forms of value, and for inviting people—especially younger generations—to see these ecosystems not as relics of the past, but as spaces of possibility. This same approach extends to other forest resources that have long remained on the margins. By working on species such as strawberry tree and mastic tree, the Provence Model Forest helps reveal the hidden potential of local products, encouraging forms of innovation that remain grounded in place. In this way, restoration becomes an act of rediscovery: of overlooked species, dormant knowledge, and economic opportunities that can support better forest care. Across the episode, one idea remains central: a forest cannot endure if it is reduced to a sanctuary alone. It must also be inhabited, known, worked with, and valued . The Model Forest approach in Provence responds to this challenge by linking ecological transition with local initiative, and by showing that a more liveable future can be built through renewed relationships between people and the landscapes they depend on. This is the third episode of a five-part video series filmed across the Mediterranean Model Forest Network, exploring how the Model Forest approach can strengthen governance, sustainability, and restoration initiatives. Watch the entire series:    • RESTORATION IN THE MODEL FORESTS - Documen...