United by its culture and millennia-old heritage, the Mediterranean region is nevertheless subject to multiple tensions and pressures. As one of the world’s climate hotspots, with temperature increases nearly 20% higher than the global average, it is experiencing severe soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, deterioration in water quality and access, warming and rising sea levels, and the weakening of agri-food systems and rural areas. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly vulnerable to crises and extreme events. Besides, the devastating conflicts currently afflicting certain countries in our region have plunged most vulnerable populations into a severe humanitarian crisis, exposing the shortcomings of the international community’s response and underscoring the urgent need for stronger, more decisive and sustained support.

However, beyond its fragilities, the Mediterranean is a hub of cooperation, mobility and cultural diversity. It is a ‘positive’ laboratory for the world, capable of anticipating, experimenting and proposing global solutions to food, climate and social challenges.

In this context, the CIHEAM has been working for nearly 63 years, alongside its many partners, to strengthen the resilience of food systems, sustainable agricultural development and the balance of rural and coastal areas.

The past year fully illustrates this ambition...

Teodoro Miano, Secretary General of the CIHEAM