Natural resources - food nexus: food-related environmental footprints in the mediterranean countries.

Cosimo Lacirignola,Hamid El Bilali,Roberto Capone,Philipp Debs,Francesco Bottalico

doi:10.3389/fnut.2014.00023

Abstract

Immediate action is required in the Mediterranean to address environmental degradation that is mainly driven by consumption patterns. Increasing stress on biological and social systems is put by unsustainable consumption patterns. Food consumption patterns are important drivers of environment degradation. The objective of this review paper is to explore natural resources-food nexus in the Mediterranean region by highlighting the environmental footprints of the current consumption and production patterns. Secondary data from different sources such as FAOSTAT, the World Bank, Water Footprint Network (WFN), and Global Footprint Network were used to analyze the situation in 21 Mediterranean countries. The region faces many environmental challenges, e.g., land degradation, water scarcity, environment pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. The current consumption patterns imply high ecological, carbon, and water footprints of consumption and unfavorable national virtual-water balances. Food Balance Sheets data show that the contribution of vegetal and animal-based food product groups to food supply is variable among the Mediterranean countries. This has implications also in terms of the WF of food supply, which was calculated for Bosnia, Egypt, Italy, Morocco, and Turkey. The WF of the current diet resulted lower than that of the proposed Mediterranean one in the case of Italy. There is a strong scientific evidence supporting assumption that it is so also for other Mediterranean countries. The Mediterranean is characterized by a high resource use intensity that is further exacerbated by food losses and waste (FLW). In fact, FLW implies the loss of precious resources (water, land, energy) and inputs (fertilizers). Therefore, it is crucial to increase adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet and to reduce FLW in order to foster transition to more sustainable food consumption patterns thus reducing pressure on the scarce resources of the Mediterranean region.

Highlights

In the Mediterranean, immediate action is required to address environmental degradation that is mainly driven by population and consumption
MATERIALS AND METHODS The review paper is based on secondary data from different databases and sources such as FAOSTAT, World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, Water Footprint Network (WFN), Global Footprint Network (GFN), UNEP/MAP-Plan Bleu, European Commission (DG ENV), CIHEAM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies), Barilla Centre for Food & Nutrition (BCFN), Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Italian Institute of Food Science (La Sapienza university), Stockholm International Water Institute, World Resources Institute, WWF, etc
This paper focus on ecological footprint (EF), carbon footprint (CF), and water footprint (WF) of consumption

Summary

Introduction

In the Mediterranean, immediate action is required to address environmental degradation that is mainly driven by population and consumption. Increasing stress on biological as well as social systems is put by unsustainable consumption patterns, in particular food consumption patterns that are important drivers of environment degradation, e.g., unsustainable water use, declining soil fertility, marine environment degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change (CC), etc. Mediterranean region’s development cannot be “sustainable” except if the fundamental common goods are protected and improved. Protection of the coast, sea, climate and air quality, soil and biodiversity, water resources, cultural and landscape heritage, and traditional knowledge of nature are the priorities to be focused on. It is very important to break the joints that make economic development reliant on an intensive exploitation of natural resources and to promote changes in consumption and production patterns [1]

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Conclusion