Planting trees has become a common practice on the sidelines of major sporting events. The International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG) wanted to go further in the context of Taranto 2026 by inaugurating the very first “Mediterranean athletes’ forest”The ceremony notably brought together the first vice-president of the CIJM, Mehrez Boussayene, the mayor of Taranto, Pietro Bitetti, as well as athletes. Olive trees have been planted near the Iacovone Stadium, and this is just the beginning. New trees will take root in November with the aim of expanding the forest and strengthening the city's resilience to climate change.
« With the Athletes' Forest, we are planting the values of the Mediterranean Games in the soil of Taranto. Each tree represents an athlete, a National Olympic Committee that is part of our family, and the shared future we are committed to preserving—a future in which sport and the environment grow together. “,” said ICJM Secretary General Iakovos Filippousis. This forest is just the first in a series that the ICJM hopes will be long: it has already announced that This system would be replicated in future host cities Mediterranean Games and Mediterranean Beach Games.
