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 thedynamics of urbanisation and the globalisation of agricultural trade. They are adhering less and less to the Mediterranean Diet, despite the fact that it is thebasis 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 thecomplexity 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 thecrucial 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 nowraising questions in the fields of environmental responsibility and political action to promote greater regional cooperation.

The report, involving 49 international experts, has been produced in partnership with the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Mediterranean Diet Foundation (FDM).