Mediterranean Diet, CIHEAM in Rome: Where the New Action Plan Stands
On November 16 CIHEAM brings institutions and researchers to Rome for the Mediterranean Diet's new action plan, between climate resilience, legumes and the PULSE magazine.
✨ AI Summary
On Monday November 16, in the Cavour Room of Italy's Agriculture Ministry in Rome, CIHEAM holds the International Day of the Mediterranean Diet: work starts at 9.30 and centres on the next action plan, climate resilience and water security. The programme runs from an opening session to a debate on organic and local food systems and a forum on water, energy, food and ecosystems coordinated by CIHEAM Montpellier. The same day sees the launch of PULSE, the fifth issue of the CIHEAM Bari FEED magazine, devoted to legumes.
On November 16, 2026, CIHEAM brings an international debate on the future of the Mediterranean Diet to Rome. The venue is the Cavour Room at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, and the proceedings open at 9.30. The meeting focuses on the prospects of a new action plan and on strategies for sustainable agri-food systems, with a closer look at climate resilience.
What is on the table. The discussion aims to set priorities and concrete measures for communities and agri-food systems, with attention to climate change, water security and the sustainability of production. An opening session will be moderated by Massimo Zaurrini, editor of Africa e Affari; speakers include Roberto Capone, CIHEAM's reference for sustainable food systems and the Mediterranean Diet, and Lluis Serra-Majem, rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The debate then moves to organic and local food systems, organised by CIHEAM Bari with the support of IFOAM Organics Europe, and to the WEFE Nexus forum coordinated by CIHEAM Montpellier.
PULSE and legumes. The same day brings PULSE, the fifth issue of CIHEAM Bari FEED: the magazine places legumes and their role in agri-food systems at the centre, through reports, analysis and opinion pieces aimed at people working in the supply chain, public decision-makers and a non-specialist audience.
Why Rome. The work builds on the SFS-MED platform launched in 2021 with FAO and the Union for the Mediterranean, later joined by PRIMA. What makes the appointment political as well as technical is the UN recognition: in December 2025 the General Assembly proclaimed November 16 as the International Day, tasking FAO with spreading knowledge of the model. UNESCO had inscribed the Mediterranean Diet on its intangible heritage list in 2010. For anyone who reads a label before the slogan, the question stays the same: not individual habits, but the path that brings a product to the table. A lens our archive has also applied to eyewear financial results and to outdoor sport.
Source note: the dates, venue, programme and speakers' names are taken from Ilikepuglia.it; the source gives no participant figures and no details of the action plan.