The project will establish methodologies for identifying cedar genotypes and multiplying commercially elite material within a framework of an environmentally sensitive production system and with due regard to safeguarding and enriching the natural biodiversity. This will be achieved by establishing an integrated system across a circum-Mediterranean network of expertise, which will allow for the profitable use of cedars but in truly sustainable ways.

The project will:
1. Assess and analyze, using molecular markers, the genetic variability in cedar provenances across the Mediterranean region.
2. Formulate appropriate strategies for the management and environmentally sensitive exploitation of cedar germplasm in each of the study areas.
3. Evaluate genotypes suitable for use as landscape trees and as timber trees.
4. Identify and multiply genotypes suitable for use in arid and semi-arid areas.
5. Develop regeneration and multiplication protocols, particularly in vitro systems.
6. Establish nurseries for cedar production and plan, when necessary, a forest enrichment strategy.
7. Forge links between countries in the region and establish a preliminary network for the free exchange of results and expertise, and thus establish a long-term circum-Mediterranean network for cedar silviculture.