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16/03/2017
DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

 

 


Introduction

CIHEAM and FAO, on 23 October 2015, signed a new strategic partnership aimed at working together to advance solutions on issues related to improving food security and nutrition in the region.

The technical workshop is jointly organized by FAO and CIHEAM-Bari, as part of the implementation of the activities of the 10YFP SFSP core initiative on “Sustainable Diets in the Context of Sustainable Food Systems”, in  which  FAO and CIHEAM are both members of the 10YFP-SFSP Multistakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC).

The 2017 workshop is a follow up to the FAO/CIHEAM-Bari side event “From production to consumption: The Mediterranean diet as a lever in the Mediterranean, within the framework of the SDGs”, held at the First World Conference on the Mediterranean diet, in July 2016, in Milan. This side event  was also a follow up to the FAO/CIHEAM side event on “Planting the seeds of sustainability: from production to consumption in the Near East and North Africa Region”, held at the 33rd Session of FAO Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa (NENA), in May 2016, at the FAO Headquarters, in Rome. In the NENA side event’s concluding recommendations, the role of the Mediterranean diet was highlighted as a lever to improve the sustainability of food systems and consumption patterns in the Mediterranean region.

Since 2011, the Mediterranean diet has been identified by FAO and CIHEAM-Bari as a joint case study for characterization and assessment of the sustainability of food consumption patterns and diets in the Mediterranean region. Through a series of international workshops, report and scientific publications, a methodological MED Diet 4.0 approach was also developed towards the assessment of the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet.

The Mediterranean diet as a sustainable lever linking, within the 2030 Agenda, food consumption to production in the Mediterranean, towards more sustainable food systems in the region.

Within the international debate on a shift towards more sustainable food systems and diets, interest in the Mediterranean diet as a model of a sustainable diet has increased. The notion of the Mediterranean diet has undergone a progressive evolution over the past 50 years – from that of a healthy dietary pattern for the heart to a model of a sustainable diet. The Mediterranean diet is a significant part of Mediterranean food systems, from consumption to production, and not just a diet, but more as a lifestyle, an expression of the diversity of Mediterranean food systems and cultures and their different culinary systems. Despite the fact that the Mediterranean diet has been acknowledged as a healthy diet, it is paradoxically becoming less the diet of choice in most Mediterranean countries. Southern and eastern Mediterranean countries are passing through the “nutritional transition” in which problems of under-nutrition coexist with overweight, obesity and food-related chronic diseases. The erosion of the Mediterranean diet heritage is alarming as it has undesirable impacts not only on health, but also on the social, cultural, economic and environmental trends in the Mediterranean region.

 

The 2017 FAO/CIHEAM-Bari Technical Workshop

The international workshop is built on the outputs of four previous FAO/CIHEAM-Bari meetings: the international workshop ondevelopment of guidelines for improving the sustainability of food consumption patterns and diets in the Mediterranean area”, in Bari, November 2011; the international seminar on “sustainability of food systems in the Mediterranean area”, in Malta, September 2012; the international workshop on “Mediterranean sustainable food systems towards the Expo Milan 2015: from theory to practice: linking territory, food quality production, food consumption and dietary patterns for improving the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet. The Apulia case study”; the side event “The Mediterranean diet as a case study for the assessment of sustainable diets”, held within the Expo Milan 2015 event “Does still exist the Mediterranean diet?”, organized by CNR, CIHEAM-Bari,CREA, ENEA  and Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures.

The programme of this workshop is within the scope of the 10YFP SFSP core initiative “Sustainable Diets in the Context of Sustainable Food Systems”. It is built on the active participation of the following 10YFP SFSP MAC members from the Mediterranean region: ENEA, UNESCO Chair on Food, Culture and Development at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Hebrew University; and partner members: IFMeD, CIISCAM, Hellenic Health Foundation, CREA, AIX-Marseille University/INSERM/INRA, FQH, American University of Beirut, Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Al-Quds Public Health Society -Al Quds University, and other experts.

This FAO/CIHEAM-Bari workshop also advances the 2016 Call of Action for the Revitalization of the Mediterranean Diet, which was issued, at the First World Conference on the Mediterranean Diet, within the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, and as a follow up to the 2015 MEDIET EXPO Call for Action: ”Time to Act”, issued at the EXPO 2015 Milan.

The workshop will contribute to strengthening collaboration among key stakeholders to consolidate the role of the Mediterranean Diet as a lever to improve the sustainability of food systems and consumption patterns in the Mediterranean region, towards achieving the 2030 Agenda’s goals for this region, as stressed in the concluding recommendations of the NENA side event, as well as to contribute to the new CIHEAM Strategic Agenda 2016-2015.

In September 2016, at the 11th Meeting of the Ministers of the CIHEAM member States, in Tirana, the promotion of the Mediterranean diet was inserted as the thematic priority 4 of the new CIHEAM Strategic Agenda 2016-2025, as well as in the CIHEAM Action Plan 2025, within the Flagship Initiative 2 “Mediterranean Compact for Sustainable Agriculture and Food”, in which  the Mediterranean diet   has been highlighted as a development asset to create interfaces with other sectors such as tourism and gastronomy and contribute to growth and job creation in local economies. Even more, it has been also underscored as a major asset if included in the strategies of the private sector especially in philanthropic initiatives or social and environmental responsibility.

Objectives

  • To produce a discussion paper on the development of voluntary guidelines for the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet in the Mediterranean region, as a contribution to the 10YFP Sustainable Food Systems Programme core initiative “Sustainable Diets in the Context of Sustainable Food Systems”. It is built on the outcomes of the 2012 FAO/CIHEAM-Bari discussion paper on “Towards the development of Guidelines for improving the sustainability of diets and food consumption patterns in the Mediterranean area” and 2015 FAO/CIHEAM-Bari White Paper “Mediterranean food consumption patterns: diet, environment, society, economy and health” issued at the EXPO 2015 Milan.  .  It will also serve towards the development of the first section “Research” of the voluntary guidelines to be further developed.

 

  • To finalize a proposal for the development of a 10YFP–SFSP core initiative for a Mediterranean Multistakeholder Platform on Sustainable Food Systems, as contribution to the achievement of the objectives  of  the 2016 FAO/CIHEAM side event at the NENA Regional Conference ; as well as to advance the 2016 Call for Action for the Revitalization of the Mediterranean diet, as a follow up to the 2015 CIHEAM  Med Diet Expo Call: Time to Act, towards more sustainable food systems for present and future generations.

 

Agenda

TUESDAY, 14 MARCH

9.00-9.30         Welcome

Cosimo Lacirignola, Secretary General, CIHEAM

Representative, Regional Presidence, Apulia County

 

 

9.30-9.45         Opening Remarks 

Fatima Hachem, Nutrition Senior Officer, FAO

 

9.45-10.15       Scope and Objectives of the Workshop

Roberto Capone, CIHEAM-Bari

Sandro Dernini, FAO

 

10.15-10.30     Outcomes from the 2016 First World Conference on the Mediterranean Diet

Lluis Serra-Majem, IFMeD President, Spain  

 

10.30-10.45     Outcomes from the 2011-2016 FAO/CIHEAM case study on the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable diet

Alexandre Meybeck, FAO

 

10.45-11.00     Coffee break

11.00-11.15     From Theory to Practice: The Apulia Case Study

Gianluigi Cardone, CIHEAM-Bari, Italy

 

11.15-12.30     Presentation draft paper “Development of Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainability of the Mediterranean diet in the Mediterranean Region"

Fatima Hachem, FAO, with Roberto Capone, CIHEAM-Bari

 

12.30 – 14.30:  Lunch break

 

14.30–16.15:   Enrichments for the development of the Element 1 “Research” of the Voluntary Guidelines: Facing Priority Sustainability Challenges for Food Security and Nutrition in the Mediterranean Region

Moderator Ana Islas-Ramos, FAO

Contributions by: Jalila El-Ati, National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology of Tunisia; Laura Rossi, CREA, Italy;  Nahla Hwalla, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Suzanne Piscopo, University of Malta; Ziad Abdeen, Al Quds Public Health Society, Palestine National Authority; Giuseppe Carruba, ARNAS-Civico, Palermo, Italy; Lorenzo Donini, CIISCAM Sapienza University of Rome; Gulden Peckan, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Mauro Gamboni, CNR, Italy; Gaziantep, Turkey, Carlo La Vecchia, University of Milan.  

 

16.15-16.30     Coffee break

 

16.30-18.30     Research Enrichments (Cont.)

Moderator: Lorenzo Donini, CIISCAM/Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Contributions by: Antonia Trichopoulou, Hellenic Health Foundation;  Lluis Serra-Majem, IFMeD, Spain;  Marie Joseph Amiot Carlin, INRA,Montpellier, France; Rekia Belahsen, Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco,; Xavier Medina, UNESCO Chair on Food, Culture and Development at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain; Sandro Dernini, FAO; Gianluca Brunori, University of Pisa, Italy; Elliot Berry, Hebrew University, Israel; Massimo Iannetta and Milena Stefanova, ENEA, Italy; Denis Lairon, Aix-Marseille University; Flavio Paoletti, CREA; Jacques Delarue, Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS);

 

 

20.30   Dinner

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY, 15 MARCH

 

9.00-10.15:      Final Paper “Development of Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet in the Mediterranean Region", coordinated Roberto Capone, CIHEAM, with Fatima Hachem, FAO.

 

10.15-10.30     Coffee break

 

10.30-11.30:    Towards a 10YFP–SFSP Mediterranean Multistakeholder Platform on Sustainable Food Systems, presented by Sandro Dernini, FAO

                       

The example of the 10YFP-SFSP core initiative “Organic Food System Programme”

Flavio Paoletti, CREA, FHQ

 

11.30-12.00     CLOSING REMARKS

Anna Lartey, Director, Nutrition and Food Systems Division, FAO

Maurizio Raeli, Director, CIHEAM-Bari

 

12.15-13.30 Lunch