The Mediterranean library of knowledge
Explore the ENI CBC Med Programme's library of deliverables: a comprehensive digital repository of diverse resources tailored for the Mediterranean region. Discover in-depth studies, innovative strategies, and practical tools spanning tools addressing key environmental, economic, and social issues. The library is your go-to source to find valuable knowledge to inspire new collaborative projects driving fair, sustainable and inclusive development across the Mediterranean.
Mediterranean Organic Agriculture: Executive Agreement
In the framework of ENI CBC MED Organic Ecosystem Project: “Boosting cross border Organic Ecosystem through enhancing agro-food alliances”, the main objective of WP3 is to establish a Cross-Border Organic Agro-Food Open Ecosystem (hereinafter called Ecosystem).
The Ecosystem is an open network where complex interactions among different players with complementary backgrounds are produced. It is established on a well-structured national and cross-border alliance, through a concrete collaborative approach and a synergistic effect. The Ecosystem aims at increasing cooperation and dialogue among private and public actors of the organic sector stimulating dynamic discussion and participatory exchange of experiences, problems, needs and possible sustainable solutions to scale up the Med organic sector and improve its competitiveness as well as to promote economic growth in Partner countries and in the Region.
This ExecutiveAgreement, signed by Organic Ecosystem beneficiaries (Partners, Associated Partners, MSMEs, actors of organic and innovation chain) aims to give an overview of general objectives, principles and conditions under which the partners of the Ecosystem intend to develop capacity-building activities, knowledge sharing and cooperation, aimed at strengthening organic MSMEs in the Partner Countries supported by Competent Authorities (CAs, members of the Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network-MOAN).
Apart from the project partners, 285 stakeholders signed this agreement.
Organic agriculture operators from the Mediterranean: BOOKLET OF CONTACTS
The ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM project has brought together a consortium of operators and public-private partners from Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, and Greece, aiming to drive business alliances in the field of organic agriculture.
In an effort to foster collaboration and promote top-quality organic products, we have compiled a comprehensive booklet of contact information for all the SMEs and partners involved in the project.
This valuable resource includes contact details for 35 operators and public-private partners who have been actively working with ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM. By creating a network of like-minded organizations, the project sought to facilitate cooperation and knowledge exchange among participants.
For individuals or businesses in search of potential business partners offering top-quality organic products, this document will prove to be a useful tool. It provides a wide range of options from a diverse array of SMEs and operators across Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, and Greece.
We are proud to state that this network of Mediterranean SMEs is committed to the principles of organic agriculture and has a demonstrated track record of excellence in their respective fields.
To offer a glimpse into the potential of ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM's network, here are a few examples of the participating SMEs. In Jordan, we came across the first organic producer of poultry products in the MENA region, as well as a supplier of caffeine-free coffee made from date seeds. Lebanon boasts the largest carob bean farm in the Mediterranean and is one of the vast network of farms and biggest distributors of organic products in the MENA and GCC regions. In Greece, we discovered exceptional extra virgin olive oil derived from ancient Mediterranean olive trees, in addition to a company specialising in high phenolic olive oil. Lastly, Italy presented gourmet organic almonds.
In addition to the SMEs, the consortium involved in the ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM project included several esteemed partners. These partners played a crucial role in facilitating collaboration and providing expertise.
The consortium was composed of the Ministry of Agriculture of Jordan, the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruit and Vegetables (JEPA), the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Zahle and the Bekaa, the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies - Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, INNOPOLIS- Centre for Innovation and Culture, and the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME).
The booklet of contact information provided in this project is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to collaborate with organizations that offer top-quality organic products.
ORGANIC AGRICULTURE PROSPECTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION [ENGLISH & ARABIC VERSION]
This document is a valuable source of information about the organic agriculture sector in the Mediterranean.
It provides updated country-specific details on organic agriculture in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Italy, and Greece, including:
- Historical background
- Legislative and policy context
- Statistics on organic land, operators, and the market
- Organic livestock
- Imports and international markets
- Domestic markets
- Outlooks and future strategies
All the information in this document has been collected in the framework of the ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM project network through a bottom-up approach that emphasizes the exchange of experiences and people-to-people cooperation.
The ORGANIC ECOSYSTEM project, through this document, seeks to provide an analysis of the organic sector in the five pilot countries, considering the perspectives of various stakeholders, including the private sector.
AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH & ARABIC
Informative material: Irrigation and Maintenance (Palestine)
Water scarcity in Mediterranean countries is often the result of inadequate infrastructure and management practices. The MENAWARA project aims to improve access to water through the treatment of wastewater to be reused as complementary irrigation and to strengthen the capacity of all stakeholders operating in the sector. This section contains informative material relating to irrigation practices, specifically in Palestine.
Informative material - Safe reuse of treated waste water in agriculture
This section contains informative material on the safe reuse of treated waste water in agriculture. The reuse offers an important alternative source to release pressure on the freshwater resources and it can be useful to address the issue and crisis of water scarcity in Palestine.
Water Reuse in Agriculture in a Living Lab environment
In a living lab environment, We World - GVC Onlus, NARC and ONAS supported by all relevant stakeholders, tested improved irrigation systems supplied with treated wastewater (TWW) of better quality thanks to the rehabilitation of their Waste Water Treatment Plants to increase the production of lemon, olives, grapes and fodder. In the target areas, a governance model has been built that, thanks to the living lab approach, is impacting the perception of reuse to public officials and population.
Innovative Constructed Wetlands in Carrion de los Céspedes (Andalusia)
In order to increase treated waste water quality to be reused in agriculture, thus tackling more and more frequent periods of drought, in the experimental Waste Water Treatment plant of AMAYA, in Carrion de los Céspedes (Spain) a low-cost treatment train composed by Constructed Wetlands (including different types, working configurations and innovative systems) has been implement. The documents report the technical description of pre and post treatments and the assessment of their efficiency.
Pre and post treatments implemented in the Waste Water Treatment Plants of Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan
One of the aims of the MENAWARA project was to increase treated waste water quality to be used in agriculture, based on Non-Conventional Water supply technologies and practices already existing in the intervention areas and technical and sociopolitical constraints (efficiency of plants, acceptance by local communities and banning of some irrigation techniques by governments). In these documents, pre and post treatments implemented in the Waste Water Treatment Plants in the intervention areas of Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan are described and their efficiency assessed.
Forested Infiltration Area (FIA) System
The FIA technique was identified by NRD-UNISS’ researchers as a Nature Based Solution potentially useful for mitigating the nitrate groundwater pollution in the Arborea plain, in Sardinia (ITALY). Easy to implement even over large spatial scales, the FIA technique also offers a series of supplementary ecosystem services, such as the increase in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and environmental recovery, thus increasing the potentiality of replication of the technique also in contexts outside the Arborea area. The documents details the technical aspects of the Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system through the FIA technique implemented and related achieved results.
Glossary on water reuse in agriculture
With the aim to facilitate a proper understanding of the terminology used in the frame of water reuse, and contributing to ensuring the proper use of associated terms, a glossary section has been created and included in the MENAWARA interactive platform. Definitions are both in English and in Arabic, while the terms have been translated in Spanish, Italian, French, Greek and Arabic, the languages spoken within the MENAWARA and MEDWAYCAP projects.
It is possible to insert a single word in the string to obtain the related definition and/or its translation. The word can be entered in any of the 6 languages.
Interactive web platform
The interactive web platform has been created to foster the dialogue and establish a network among countries by collecting, and sharing know-how, best practices, experiences and information on Non-Conventional Water sustainable management. The platform provides inputs on operational and policy measures that need to be taken into account in order to advance the use of NCW and efficient water re-use and management, inputs resulting from the awareness acquired during the development of the activities within the MENAWARA living labs and, later, following the discussions during the MEDWAYCAP innovation camps towards an integrated vision of the water governance at domestic and agricultural level. It consists of 6 sections: Best Practices on NCW, Legislation, Glossary, MENAWARA target countries and Governance.
Living Labs approach
Using Treated Waste Water as an input for agricultural production requires some adaptations both in the agricultural practices, the irrigation techniques, and the governance bodies. Moreover, social acceptability would limit its use. In this framework, Living Labs are an appropriate learning space that would open to the adoption of the technical innovation through a social innovation. This documents reports the "living lab approach" used by the MENAWARA project which has been adapted in each target country according to its own context and needs. 3 momentum phases have been identified to lay the foundations for a sustainable learning space.