Food systems transformation – Processes and pathways in the Mediterranean. A stocktaking exercise.

As part of the global Food Systems Summit process, countries and stakeholders across the Mediterranean convened several Summit Dialogues, which allowed to reflect on the Summit’s objectives, explore the challenges faced in Mediterranean food systems, and exchange about strategic pathways to enable a sustainable transition.

Building on this momentum, an analytical review of the outcomes of part of these dialogues was performed, in order to take stock of common challenges, priorities, and opportunities, and to provide support to countries and stakeholders across the Mediterranean region in further developing and implementing pathways towards sustainable food systems.

The stocktake presents a set of thematic areas common to most countries in the region (“what to transform”), as well as a number of potential means of implementation (“how to transform”) that were found to be instrumental to generate transformative change, and have the potential to drive regional collaboration for accelerating the shift towards more sustainable food systems.

To keep the momentum created by the Summit and the related national processes, possible next steps are proposed to leverage the transformative power of food systems, including the finalization and implementation of national pathways, the promotion of inclusive governance structures, and the development of cross-national and regional collaborations. In this setting, FAO, CIHEAM and UfM launched an initiative to engage with countries and stakeholders in the Mediterranean, providing a forum for dialogue and multi-stakeholder exchange, dedicated support for the co-creation of flagship projects and investment proposals, opportunities for regional cooperation on data sharing, science diplomacy and innovation.