Agriculture and alimentation in the Mediterranean, the challenges of Globalisation

Many hopes were pinned on the “Barcelona Process” to promote economic transition in Mediterranean non-member countries and strengthen regional integration. However, this process is now encountering serious difficulties (…). By launching the Regional Action Programme (RAP) with the support of the European Union, the CIHEAM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies) aimed to support this process of regional integration and to contribute, through a series of training and research activities, to strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to take decisions on agricultural and food policies in the context of globalisation. In this context, the IRESA (Institut de recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur agricole) in Tunis, the IAM (Institut agronomique méditerranéen) in Montpellier and a large number of Mediterranean teaching and research institutions have taken responsibility for the ‘Agricultural and food policies’ strand of this programme. The collective summary work presented here brings together the most original research results. Above all, it goes back over a number of preconceived ideas and attempts to advance thinking on some of the most strategic issues. The conclusions reached demonstrate that, in this part of the world, when people decide to work together, they succeed in building a very different image of the Mediterranean: the image of a region of sharing and solidarity (…).