MED9 Ministers of Agriculture signed a Joint Declaration on Building Agricultural Resilience in the Mediterranean region during a meeting they had in Slovenia.
The Ministers of Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain reaffirmed their strong commitment to stepping up joint efforts to create a resilient, sustainable, and climate-adapted agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region, fully aligned with the European Green Deal, the EU Climate Adaptation Strategy, and the objectives of the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The Ministers recognized that the Mediterranean region, is one of world’s climate change hotspot, that faces increasing agricultural vulnerability due to climate-related and other risks. They also agreed on agriculture’s pivotal role in food security, food sovereignty, water resource management, biodiversity protection.
The Ministers in their declaration also recognized that existing European and national systems and policies remain insufficiently prepared to cope with these realities and noted the need for immediate, coordinated, and forward-looking responses across all levels of governance, integrating climate resilience into every policy field.
Moreover they stressed the need to promote a resilience-by-design approach, embedding adaptation into all relevant EU policies, including the CAP.
Cyprus Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Maria Panagiotou in press statements noted that the MED9 meeting took a decisive step for coordinated action, pointing out that our region stands at the frontline of climate change that directly impact the daily lives of our farmers, our water resources, and our food security.
She said that farmers are already operating at the edge of their viability, and it would be unfair to expect them to bear alone the financial burden of climate change or compete on an unequal footing.
"That’s why we are here for our farmers, we are here for making sure that .our farmers will have the support they need in order to continue to produce under pressing circumstances. Our Joint Declaration sends a clear message on how imperative is to have a strategic and long-term approach to risk management in agriculture," she stressed.
She also assured that Cyprus stands firmly with its MED9 partners in calling for urgent, coordinated, and forward-looking action, not only to protect farmers today, but to secure a sustainable and resilient future for Mediterranean agriculture.
(Source: CNA)
