Following-up the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development’s chapter (MSSD) on “sustainable agricultural and rural development”   Mandate and objectives

Plan Bleu, a Regional Activity Centre of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) has been assigned by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention to follow-up the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), adopted in November 2005 where Agriculture and Rural Development is one of the priority field of action.

For this reason, Plan Bleu is bound to document and disseminate a set of priority and complementary indicators to follow up the MSSD, to conduct in-depth analyses, to identify good practices and to carry out its activities with volunteer countries, the EU authorities and regional and initiatives partnerships in this field.

The overall objectives aim at:

• Building up a body of information, which would facilitate the follow-up and the implementation of the MSSD in the field of “agriculture and rural development”,
• Speeding up the definition of strategies and the implementation of sustainable rural development policies by showing their benefits (in economic, environmental and social terms),
• Pointing out obstacles and identify existing levers (or potential ones) in national and local policies as well as at the international cooperation scale in order to progress toward the objectives of the MSSD,
• Monitoring the changes of the region and of the countries in terms of the MSSD’s objectives and orientations,
• Gathering and enhancing information at three levels: regional, national, local.

The specific objectives consist in:

• Setting up a review of the progress achieved based on:
  • documentation on MSSD’s follow-up indicators,
  • regional studies placing the whole Mediterranean region regarding the objectives of the MSSD on the one hand and in comparison to the rest of the world on the other hand,
  • analyses of the definition and implementation of sustainable rural development policies and programmes in some countries, together with concrete examples of good practices (case studies),
  • analyses of the international cooperation as regards sustainable rural development.
• Enabling a regional share of experiences thank to:
  • The organization of a workshop aimed at discussing and finalising a regional report introducing rural development policies, programmes or local actions implemented at different scales: regional studies/analyses, national reports, case studies;
  • The participation to a regional seminar aimed at presenting and enhancing the regional report once it comes out.
• Formulating some recommendations about the progress to be made so as to achieve the strategic objectives within the countries and on a regional level.

Activities

They have been conducted since 2006 in partnership with CIHEAM (Centre International des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes / International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies), and with the financial support from the French Ministry of Agriculture. These activities consist in.

• Mobilizing a group of experts in order to:
  • Define a list of complementary indicators to follow-up the MSSD in the field of “agriculture and rural development” - December 2006;
  • Define priority themes for regional studies - December 2006;
  • Work out the specifications for the reports national experts are entrusted with and make up a list of countries - May 2007;
  • Monitor the unfolding of national and regional studies and ensure their conformity to the specifications;
  • Set up the global executive calendar for 2007-2009;
    
    
• Working on priority/complementary indicators:
  • Methodological sheets for the priority indicators - May 2006
  • Methodological sheets for the complementary indicators – July 2007
    
    
• Implementing National studies

AL
DZ	Résumé
EG	Résumé
ES	Résumé
FR	Résumé
	Summary
GR
IT	Summary
MA	Résumé
RS	Summary
TN	Résumé
TR

• Conducting regional analyses

Territorial approaches in the Mediterranean rural development policies:

• Terms of reference
• Completed Study

Agriculture and climate change (Maghreb) :

• Terms of reference
• Completed Study
• Summary of the study

Rangelands collective management (Mashrek/Maghreb) :

• Terms of reference
• Completed Study

Economic cost of desertification :

• Terms of reference
• Completed Study
• Summary of the study
  
  
• Organising a regional workshop - Bari (IT) 8-10 May 2008

The workshop will be organised in partnership with Plan Bleu, the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (Italy), and the CIHEAM. It will serve as a basis for taking stock of the situation as regards the studies requested and for assessing the progress achieved by countries as per MSSD’s implementation and for formulating relevant recommendations to be addressed to the MCSD meeting that comes later.

The results of this workshop may be discussed during meetings to be held in volunteer countries in order to define the actions which should be taken at a national level.

Workshop's Agenda

• Writing a regional report –2009

All the studies will give rise to a joint publication by Plan Bleu/CIHEAM consisting in a regional synthesis, hinging on the objectives of the MSSD, on the change of national, European, and Euro-Mediterranean rural development strategies and policies, and of their consistency. This publication will comprise indicators documented at national levels, examples of good practices and recommendations to decision-makers.

The publication of this report is due to be issued at the beginning of 2009 and its dissemination - in five languages –– in the framework of Mediterra collection published by CIHEAM.

Contacts
Bassima SAIDI, secretary : tel : + 33 (0)4 92 38 71 32, Email: bsaidi@planbleu.org
Florence PINTUS, programme officer : tel : + 33 (0)4 92 38 42, Email : fpintus@planbleu.org