Co-developing the agriculture and agro-food industries in the Mediterranean
Many issues call for a greater technical, territorial and commercial cooperation on agricultural, dietary and rural issues between the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean: population growth in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, with nearly 400 million people to feed in 2030, structural external dependence of these countries to have access to strategic commodities, rise of nutritional imbalances and diseases following the progressive renunciation to the Mediterranean diet, limits of the intensive agricultural production model in the North and in the South, diminution of available agricultural surfaces, impacts of climate change, especially on the availability of water resources.
This is the subject of IPEMED’s current reflections, that focus on 4 work axes:
- Supporting Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC) to reconquer their domestic markets and improve food security in the long term, through the codevelopment of territorialised sectors and food systems (TFS) in the Mediterranean;
- In addition, promoting “collective food security” through North-South and South-South agricultural and agribusiness partnerships, that include a solidarity supply charter;
- Protecting and highlighting the Mediterranean diet by advocating the implementation of a Mediterranean label for key Mediterranean products (olives, dates, durum wheat, etc.);
- Fostering sustainable rural development and territory balance through innovation by studying, for instance, the positive externalities related to “circular bioeconomy clusters”, micro-algae farms, etc.