Melaleuca cuticularis, native to Western Australia. Image credit: Peggy L. Fiedler
Mediterranean-climate regions are rich repositories of global biodiversity. These regions cover 2.2 percent of the world’s dry land but host 16 percent of all known plant species. The five Mediterranean-climate regions are also some of the most densely populated and developed areas on earth, putting their natural systems at risk. To bring these issues to the world stage, representatives from the University of California Natural Reserve System (NRS) worked with IUCN to launch the Mediterranean-Type Ecosystem Thematic Group (MTEG) in July 2011.
The Group’s first members were drawn from the newly formed International Cooperative for the Management of Mediterranean-Climate Ecosystems (INCOMME), an initiative of the University of California Natural Reserve System funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Today, group delegates represent leading-edge expertise in Mediterranean ecosystem management and come from some of the foremost research institutions in the field.