The initiative has devoted the last 16 months to collecting best practices and to discussing – in a transnational and multi-stakeholder manner – key challenges confronting six Mediterranean cities. In Marseille, eight policy recommendations were agreed upon regarding the most urgent issues to be addressed with respect to urban and peri-urban agriculture.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a key element in the design of sustainable food systems in Mediterranean metropolitan areas. It is also a tool for territorial management, climate change mitigation, the creation of jobs and economic opportunities, landscape protection, leisure and health services, among other benefits.

MedCities Secretary General, and head of International Relations of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), Xavier Tiana chaired the Round Table which gathered elected representatives from the metropolitan areas involved in the project. Participants included the Deputy Mayor of Santa Coloma de Cervelló and Barcelona Metropolitan Councillor Gerard Segú. Among others, the meeting further benefited from the attendance of representatives of the Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park and the Barcelona city council.

The event was the occasion to present the MADRE video and key project results – thematic White Papers, the Policy Paper, best practice catalogue and the AGRI MADRE digital platform – and culminated in the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding, which endorsed the MADRE Policy Recommendations and made a commitment to continued collaboration.

MedCities and AMB are currently engaged in streamlining MADRE recommendations through an AMB vision and road map identifying priority metropolitan agriculture projects to be led by the AMB in the short and medium term.

For further information see the full press release.

MADRE is a capitalization project co-financed by the Interreg Mediterranean programme, which aims to change the metropolitan food supply model by capitalizing on existing good practices, by empowering the different stakeholders in metropolitan and peri-urban agriculture, and by initiating a dynamic of transnational cooperation in the MED regions. 

To acces the Interreg MED MADRE Policy Paper and the series of Thematic White Papers, click HERE