`Promotion of MedDiet Aligns with U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals - Olive Oil Times
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enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

Promotion of MedDiet Aligns with U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals

By Simon Roots
Dec. 20, 2021 22:29 UTC

At a con­fer­ence held in Barcelona this month, the Mediterranean Diet Foundation launched its ini­tia­tive to achieve com­pli­ance with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda.

Adopted in 2015, the agenda defined 17 sus­tain­able devel­op­ment goals (SDGs) with the aim of achiev­ing stronger and more sus­tain­able eco­nomic growth world­wide.

See Also:Biodiversity Project Expands Beyond Spain

The pres­i­dent of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, Francisco Martinez Arroyo, said that the SDGs are aligned with the prin­ci­ples of the Mediterranean diet. He also called for a united front to fight against cli­mate change.

The con­fer­ence, enti­tled ​“How can the Mediterranean Diet help to achieve the SDGs,” was held at the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Catalonian regional gov­ern­ment, and was attended by numer­ous gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives as well as par­tic­i­pants from major pri­vate-sec­tor orga­ni­za­tions.

The lat­ter group included Mauricio García Quevedo, direc­tor-gen­eral of the Spanish Federation of Food and Drink Industries, and Jordi Valls, direc­tor-gen­eral of Mercabarna, Europe’s largest whole­sale fresh food mar­ket.

The forum was char­ac­ter­ized by agree­ment on the need for greatly increased pub­lic-pri­vate col­lab­o­ra­tion.

José Luis Bonet, pres­i­dent of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, drew atten­tion to the strate­gic ben­e­fits of sus­tain­abil­ity for the pri­vate sec­tor, say­ing that it gen­er­ates new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties, pro­motes greater oper­a­tional effi­ciency in the orga­ni­za­tion and enables com­pa­nies to strengthen rela­tions with their stake­hold­ers.

Martinez called for a greater role to be given to the indi­vid­ual farm­ers and fish­er­men who form the foun­da­tion of the Mediterranean diet, say­ing that they ​“must have prof­itabil­ity in their endeav­ors and should be part of the deci­sion-mak­ing process of con­sumers.”

He also stressed the need for improved label­ing, includ­ing the effec­tive use of Protected Designations of Origin and Protected Geographical Indications.

“It is impor­tant for con­sumers to under­stand the his­tory of each food­stuff because the Mediterranean diet is not just food, but a way of under­stand­ing the envi­ron­ment, of relat­ing to each other, of enjoy­ing local and sea­sonal con­sump­tion and con­tin­u­ing to trans­mit our his­tory and cul­tural her­itage,” he said.

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