Food Insecurity in the Mediterranean: Toward Integrated Policy Proposals

From April 18 to 22, Palermo hosted the 15th edition of the Earth Day Med Festival: an opportunity to raise public awareness of sustainability and climate issues across the Mediterranean, organized by Fondazione Studio Rizoma in collaboration with EStà, ECCO think tank, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Paris, France | Italia, and the University of Palermo.

On the final day, EStà led a hands-on workshop at the Teatro Garibaldi, aimed at translating scientific research on food poverty into concrete actions for local governance: a participatory planning session to address the challenge through a collaborative and systemic approach.

As a co-organizer of the Festival, EStà structured the event with a specific goal: to combine the dissemination of data with the dimension of local dialogue. The starting point was the presentation of the report on food poverty produced for the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

The workshop format: three breakout sessions

The workshop brought together about 30 people, including representatives from the City of Palermo, small and medium-sized enterprises, representatives from the third sector—such as Banco Alimentare and the Red Cross—and delegates from some of the region’s leading foundations, including Fondazione con il Sud. Participants were divided into three diverse working groups to address three methodological issues:

1. Mapping vulnerabilities: The analysis began with the specific causes of food insecurity. It became clear that the phenomenon is influenced by factors beyond the food system alone, such as the impact of rent costs and the economic pressure on households.
2. Needs and expectations: Each group worked to identify up to three priority local needs and three expectations for the future. This synthesis exercise served to highlight the real urgent needs in order to make the fight against poverty more effective.
3. Actionable proposals: The final phase focused on proactivity, asking participants to identify concrete actions that their organizations (public or private) can implement in response to the identified needs.

Outlook and follow-up

The dialogue yielded a series of findings that confirm the complexity of the issue in the Mediterranean basin, where the climate crisis intersects with pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities. Among the workshop’s outcomes is undoubtedly the commitment of the stakeholders involved to collaborative governance for initiatives addressing the sensitive issue of food poverty.
The collected data is currently being analyzed and will serve as the basis for a summary report to be sent to all participants and made available to institutional stakeholders. The aim is to provide a solid technical foundation for the development of integrated policies capable of managing the ecological transition without neglecting social justice.