The Mediterranean diet as a pillar of a sustainable and resilient agri-food system is the basis on which CIHEAM Italy has organised its 3rd World Conference, which brings together more than 200 international specialists until 30 September in the Italian city of Bari. The ambitious event is structured around 21 thematic sessions, with the aim of encouraging a change of route towards sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean region and accelerating the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. Some of the aspects on the table include identifying strategies, programmes, projects and actions to improve the sustainability of food systems; halting the degradation of ecosystems; halting the loss of biodiversity; alerting and acting on the consequences of climate change, as well as recognising the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable and appropriate food system today, among others.
"We need to place science, health, climate and the environment at the center of the multilateral system to change mindsets, build new partnerships and prevent and respond to the next global crisis, whatever its nature", Alicia Pérez-Porro
CREAF scientific coordinator, Alicia Pérez-Porro will speak on ‘Science cooperation and diplomacy: a recipe for tackling global environmental challenges threatening Mediterranean food systems’, in which she argues that science and innovation connect regional cooperation in the Mediterranean to achieve long-term sustainability, prosperity and peace. “The historic mobilisation of international scientific collaborations, evidence-based decision-making and innovative public policy instruments during COVID-19 is a unique window of opportunity to open the way for a more sustained engagement between science and policy to address current and future challenges,” says Pérez-Porro. She therefore considers it essential to put science, health, climate and the environment at the centre of the multilateral system, in order to change mentalities, build new partnerships and prevent and respond to the next global crisis, whatever its nature.
The CREAF scientific coordinator’s intervention is included in the session ‘Science diplomacy, knowledge, education and employability for empowering the Mediterranean youth’, in which Senén Florensa, executive president of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed); Mohamed El-Shinawi, Co-Chair of Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean (PRIMA); Sonia Abdelhak, head of the Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics Research Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur of Tunisand Damiano Petruzzella, scientific administrator of CIHEAM Bari.
Among others, representatives of the European Parliamentary Alliance Against Hunger, the European Commission’s Commission for Agriculture, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the highest political representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture of Morocco and Tunisia are taking part in the global conference. The event coincides with the 60th anniversary of CIHEAM, an international body that brings together the ministries of agriculture of 13 key countries in the Mediterranean region. L’esdeveniment coincideix amb la celebració del 60è aniversari de CIHEAM, un organisme internacional que reuneix els ministeris d’agricultura de 13 països clau de la regió Mediterrània.
