The General Assembly (GA) annual meeting of GENMEDA took place at ‘St Raphael Resort’, Limassol, Cyprus, on 7 April 2025, as a pre-conference event of the 5th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week (5MPCW), 7-11 April 2025, organized by Frederick University, IUCN / SSC / Mediterranean Plant Specialist Group, CEPF (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund) and the Cypriot Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.
During the GA of GENMEDA, three associate members were unanimously accepted as full members of the network, raising the total number of members to 33 institutions from 14 countries, while one more application from the Nature Conservation Unit (NCU) of Frederick University of Cyprus, to become associate member of GENMEDA was also unanimously approved.
In addition, following the last elections held during the 2021 GA at Chania, new representatives for the network were elected, in accordance with the statute, for a term of 4 years:
President of GENMEDA: Imtinen BEN HAJ JILANI, collaborator of CIHEAM-MAICH, Greece and Assistant Professor at the ‘Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie’ (INAT, University of Carthage)’
Secretary/Treasurer of GENMEDA: Ana Maria CEBRIÁN, from CIEF, Valencia
Steering Committee (6 members- below in alphabetic order):
- Costantino BONOMI, from RIBES network, Italy
- Vito Emanuele CAMBRIA, from the Botanical Garden of Rome University "La Sapienza", Italy
- Michalis CHOREFTAKIS, from CIHEAM-MAICH, Greece
- Evangelia DASKALAKOU, from the Institute of Mediterranean & Forest Ecosystems-Hellenic Agricultural Organization "DEMETER", Greece
- Alejandro Santiago GONZÁLEZ, from the Botanical Garden of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
- Boštjan SURINA, from the Natural History Museum Rijeka, Croatia.
The newly elected representatives will convene again soon in order to decide about the topics of the working groups in charge of the network’s activities.
Later during the 5MPCW, three distinguished members of GENMEDA, Prof. Gianluigi BACCHETTA (CCB-University of Cagliari, Italy), President of GENMEDA during the last 8 years, Dr Emilio LAGUNA (CIEF, Spain), Coordinator of the Steering Committee of GENMEDA 2021-2025, and Prof. Emer. Kyriacos GEORGHIOU (NKUA, Greece), were honored with the Golden Oak Awards, from the organizers of the 5MPCW, for their outstanding contribution to the protection, research and conservation of Mediterranean flora.
The next GA meeting of 2026 is anticipated to be organised by the GENMEDA member Conservatoire Botanique National Méditerranéen of Porquerolles (CBNMed), France, along with events for the celebration of 50 years of its establishment.
GENMEDA group photo, General Assembly 2025, Limassol, Cyprus
New and ex-president of GENMEDA: Imtinen Ben Haj Jilani and Gianluigi Bacchetta
Golden Oak Awards Ceremony of the 5th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week, Limassol - Cyprus, 2025 (from left to right: Marios Andreou, Kyriacos Georghiou, Imtinen Ben Haj Jilani, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Emilio Laguna, Bertrand de Montmollin, Costas Thanos)
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