scholarly journals Towards food systems transformation in the Mediterranean region: Unleashing the power of data, policy, investment and innovation

New Medit ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Global Solutions ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Stakeholder Collaboration ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

There is an abundance of actions that could positively change the way food systems operate in the Mediterranean region. However, the uptake of these actions at local level has proven to be slow and often limited in their scope and impact. Considering the diverse nature of agri-food systems challenges in the region, trade-offs in interventions and the diversity of stakeholders, a radical shift from focusing on top-down, global solutions for sustainable food systems, to adapting demand driven, country-led actions is required. This review uses a food systems lens to identify four levers which are essential to “enable” and accelerate the adoption of game changing solutions to food systems challenges by local actors in the Mediterranean region. These are namely: 1) Multi-stakeholder collaboration; 2) Data and evidence; 3) Technological innovation; and 4) Coherent policies and investment. We recognize that each of these enablers is a powerful mean of change, but the evidence suggests that a sustainable and inclusive transformation is only possible when they are deployed together in an integrated and inten-tional way. Results of this review outline some of the barriers to unlocking the potential of enablers and provide insights on how to use their power to transform Mediterranean food systems.

scholarly journals Changing Route: Common Action on Food Systems Transformation in the Mediterranean

New Medit ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Ridolfi ◽  
Sandro Dernini ◽  
Jamie Morrison ◽  
Árni M. Mathiesen ◽  
Roberto Capone
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Systems Transformation ◽  
Union For The Mediterranean ◽  
Common Action

The Coronavirus pandemic has revealed the fragility of our food systems, affecting all dimensions of food security and nutrition across the world. It has highlighted how deeply our world is interconnected and the importance of better recognising and understanding the interconnections that are intrinsic to these systems and their key role in pursuit of the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. There is now, more than ever, a stronger need for a “route change” towards a common action on food systems transformation. Dialogues among all stakeholders to redesign the future of tomorrow’s food systems are needed to trigger collective, multi-stakeholder actions on the ground, at local, regional and global level, towards more sustainable food systems, linking sustainable food production to more healthy and sustainable food consumption. In this context CIHEAM, FAO, and the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat (UfMS) initiated in 2019, a joint collaborative effort for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder platform on Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean to accelerate the shift towards the Agenda 2030 in the Mediterranean region, with the Mediterranean diet acting as a driver.

scholarly journals Sustainability of Food Systems in the Mediterranean Region

New Medit ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Policy Governance ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Governance Practice ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Union For The Mediterranean

Despite the recurring discourse on food systems and their sustainability in the Mediterranean region, compre-hensive studies are hard to find. Therefore, this article provides an overview on the challenges and perspectives of food systems in the Mediterranean. In particular, the paper addresses the main challenges (environmental, economic, socio-cultural and nutrition-health) facing Mediterranean food systems; analyses the multifaceted relations between sustainable food systems (SFS) and sustainable diets by exploring the example of the Medi-terranean diet; and briefly presents the relevance of the innovation for Mediterranean food systems. The paper highlights the urgency of action to move towards sustainable and resilient food systems in the Mediterranean area. This is particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. For that, there is a need for shared policy, governance, practice and research agenda. In this respect, the contribution of CIHEAM results fundamental. The paper concludes by highlighting the disruptive potential of the SFS-Med Platform – under co-development by CIHEAM, FAO and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) – to foster food systems trans-formation towards sustainability and accelerate the achievement of SDGs in the region.

scholarly journals Improving Food Systems: A Participatory Consultation Exercise to Determine Priority Research and Action Areas in Viet Nam

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trang Nguyen ◽  
Marrit van den Berg ◽  
Jessica E. Raneri ◽  
Tuyen Huynh
Keyword(s):  
Priority Setting ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

With increased burden of malnutrition on global health, there is a need to set clear and transparent priorities for action in food systems at a global and local level. While priority settings methods are available for several adjacent domains, such as nutrition and health policies, setting priorities for food system research has not been documented and streamlined. The challenges involve food systems' multisector, multi-stakeholder and multi-outcome nature. Where data exists, it is not easy to aggregate data from across food system dimensions and stakeholders to make an informed analysis of the overall picture of the food system, as well as current and potential food system trade-offs to inform research and policy. Once research priorities are set, they risk staying on paper and never make their ways to concrete outputs and outcomes. In this paper, we documented and assessed the inclusive process of setting research priorities for a local food system, taking Vietnamese food systems as a case study. From this exercise, we examined how priority setting for food systems research could learn from and improve upon earlier priority setting research practices in other domains. We discussed the lessons for research and policies in local food systems, such as the need for a concrete follow-up plan accompanying the priority setting process.

scholarly journals WHY SHALL WE CONSIDER THE GENDER IMPLICATIONS OF BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT? THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

New Medit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-111
Author(s):  
Ilaria Sisto ◽  
Maurizio Furst
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Director General ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
The Mediterranean

Women as farmers, livestock keepers, fishers and forest dwellers play vital – often overlooked – roles in natural resources use and management in the Mediterranean region. Women’s exclusion from decision making bodies and unequal access to productive resources represent a missed opportunity in terms of sustainable management of available resources and economic development. Recent studies indicate that if men and women equally participate in the labour market, in the southern Mediterranean region the GDP could rise by 47% over the next decade, meaning an annual benefit from an economic impact of €490 billion (Woetzel et al., 2015). The Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, at the fourth Regional conference on women’s empowerment in the Euro-Mediterranean region stressed that rural women’s contributions and leadership is crucial to feed the Mediterranean region’s growing population and achieve sustainable food production: «By enabling rural women to reach their full potential, we can make food systems more inclusive, efficient and effective» (FAO 2018). In the region women sustain such food systems by gathering wild plants for food, medicinal use, fuelwood and other purposes, acting as herbalists, tending home gardens, selecting, managing and storing seeds, managing crops, trees and small livestock, domesticating plants, participating in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, and storing, preserving and processing foods after harvesting. They have a unique knowledge about local biodiversity, which is often passed from generation to generation (FAO, 2019; World Bank, FAO and IFAD, 2009). Nevertheless, still too often women have less access than men to land and livestock, production inputs and services such as education, extension and credit, and are not represented in decision-making processes related to food and agriculture (Lehel 2018; World Bank, FAO and IFAD, 2009).

Multi-Stakeholder and Multilevel Food Governance

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Sérgio Pedro
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Governance ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Global And Local

The contemporary food system, in its global and local dimensions, is a central element of the debate on the sustainability of the planet, a debate that increasingly involves more stakeholders and areas of knowledge in the search for answers to the multiple questions related to the attainment of more sustainable patterns for food and agriculture. The present chapter analyses the participative multi-stakeholder and multilevel model of food governance of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), in which stakeholders from different societal and expertise sectors participate in equal manners in the process of co-construction of institutional, technical, and financing measures for the functioning of a given food system. The present chapter has the main goal of sharing and critically analysing the CPLP´s institutional context for the promotion of sustainable food systems as an example of an integrated methodological approach to support the creation of coordinated public policies and institutional conditions to implement a transition to more sustainable food systems and diets.

scholarly journals Agroecology in Mediterranean Europe: Genesis, State and Perspectives

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Migliorini ◽  
Vasileios Gkisakis ◽  
Victor Gonzalvez ◽  
Ma Raigón ◽  
Paolo Bàrberi
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
The Mediterranean

The Mediterranean agro-food systems need to be properly managed. A promising pathway is the transition towards more sustainable food systems through agroecology, which represents the ecology of food systems. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of agroecology is described for three representative euro-Mediterranean countries: Italy, Greece, and Spain. The analysis has been partly based on results of a dedicated literature search and partly on grey literature and expert knowledge. After an overview of the history of agroecology, targeted research and education, collective action (political and social), and some agroecological practices in the three countries are presented. These countries share a rather similar use of the term “agroecology”, but they differ regarding (i) the existence/extent of strong civil and social movements; (ii) the type of study/educational programmes, and the relative importance of different scientific disciplines and their evolution; (iii) the development of political support and legal frameworks; and (iv) the elaboration of concepts to rediscover traditional practices and apply new ones, often taken from the organic agriculture sector. Agroecology is an emerging concept for the Mediterranean agricultural sector, with huge potential due to the peculiar socio-cultural, bio-physical, and political-economic features of the region. To boost agroecology in Mediterranean Europe, better networking and engagement of different actors within a coherent institutional framework supporting the transition is strongly needed.

scholarly journals A sustainability compass for policy navigation to sustainable food systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aniek Hebinck ◽  
Monika Zurek ◽  
Thom Achterbosch ◽  
Björn Forkman ◽  
Anneleen Kuijsten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Continue Development ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Sustainability Governance ◽  
Stakeholder Input ◽  
Sustainability Assessments

The growing acknowledgement that food systems require transformation has led to a call for comprehensive sustainability assessments to support decision-making. For frameworks to serve sustainability governance, they must show the trade-offs and unintended consequences that might result from policy decisions across key goals relevant to food system actors. This paper reviews existing literature and frameworks and builds on stakeholder input to present a sustainability compass with associated metrics for food system assessments. The compass defines sustainability scores for four societal goals, underpinned by areas of concern. The operationalisation approach for assessment balances policy-usability, system complexity and comprehensiveness, while providing actionable insights. It concludes by outlining additional challenges for research to continue development of food system frameworks that support sustainability governance.

scholarly journals Towards food systems transformation—five paradigm shifts for healthy, inclusive and sustainable food systems

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruerd Ruben ◽  
Romina Cavatassi ◽  
Leslie Lipper ◽  
Eric Smaling ◽  
Paul Winters
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Participatory Institutions ◽  
Systems Transformation

AbstractFood systems must serve different societal, public health and individual nutrition, and environmental objectives and therefore face numerous challenges. Considering the integrated performances of food systems, this paper highlights five fundamental paradigm shifts that are required to overcome trade-offs and build synergies between health and nutrition, inclusive livelihoods, environmental sustainability and food system resilience. We focus on the challenges to raise policy ambitions, to harmonize production and consumption goals, to improve connectivity between them, to strengthen food system performance and to anchor the governance of food systems in inclusive policies and participatory institutions. Taken together, these shifts in paradigms shape a new discourse for food system transformation that will be capable to respond to current and future policy challenges.

scholarly journals A note on the dynamics of food systems in Algeria: The example of the Ziban and the Souf

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 048-055
Author(s):  
Salah Bouchemal
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Important Food ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

This work is about a note which records some results concerning a research undertaken in Algeria. It is part of a cooperation between several Mediterranean teams. Its objective is to report on current developments in agricultural practices on the environment and on the territories, in order to design conceptual scenarios that will draw profiles that can ensure sustainable food security in cities and the maintenance of biodiversity. Similarly, it will have another interest, it is to develop an exhaustive and homogeneous database on the western part of the Mediterranean basin. For Algeria, the studied areas are distributed on a biogeographical section, from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahara, that is to say, places sufficiently representative of the North-South ecological degradation and of the diversity of situations. The results reported in this note concern two Saharan areas, the Ziban and the Souf, as the final results of the research have not yet been achieved, since the project is still ongoing. In these two areas, agriculture in the past was limited to the traditional oasis system, just to ensure the subsistence of the inhabitants, but today, several factors have contributed to a revival of agriculture whose development is spectacular. Thus, the Ziban and the Souf have become very important food producing areas and even exporters of food products. However, it should be pointed out that this dynamic, if it is a source of innovation, it has negative consequences on the oasis heritage and on the environment.

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