The 2012 edition of Mediterra takes the mobilising potential of the Mediterranean Diet as a basis and proposes a multidimensional itinerary involving sociodemographics, health, ecology, enterprise, geo-economics and citizens' initiative.
Consumers in the countries of the Mediterranean Basin have progressively changed their dietary practices as they have gradually become caught up in the dynamics of urbanisation and the globalisation of agricultural trade. They are adhering less and less to the Mediterranean Diet, despite the fact that it is the basis of their identity and one of the major assets of the region. Pressures on natural resources and the emergence of new private actors are compounding the complexity of diet-related issues.
Already the subject of widespread sociocultural and scientific debate and research, the Mediterranean Diet merits reconsideration from the political point of view given the growing awareness of the strategic dimension of agriculture and the crucial role played by food production in the stability and development of societies. This diet, whose health-promoting virtues are widely recognised and which UNESCO has now listed as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, is now raising questions in the fields of environmental responsibility and political action to promote greater regional cooperation.
> mediterra has focused this first edition on the questions of the identity, safety and quality of mediterranean foodstuffs, thus highlighting the impact of designations of origin as a quality guarantee and a shield for many mediterranean countries against imitation and relocation.
> the work presents a rigorous analysis of the risks in this field as well as consumer perceptions in order to specify the role played by identity, safety and quality in market construction.
The milk industry is then taken as an example to illustrate future prospects and the policies implemented by a number of mediterranean countries.
> the ciheam annual report, now entitled mediterra, is a reference document which has been published since 1999 and reflects the development of the agricultural sectors in the countries bordering the mediterranean. maps, charts and tables provide details of the agricultural development indicators.
> mediterra is published in five languages (french, english, spanish, arabic and italian) and provides a basis for discussion and decision-making by policymakers and professionals.
