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The purpose of the paper is to present and compare collective efforts of higher education institutions working through regional networks in introducing and promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and environmental education (EE) in two most significant EU boarder regions. Efforts to support EE/ESD in higher education are usually undertaken at individual universities and, in some cases, at national level, still remaining very fragmented; therefore, the examples of University networks in the Baltic and the Mediterranean regions are of particular interest and importance. Both regions have regional conventions, protocols and strategies for the relevant seas, bringing EU and neighbouring countries of the regions together for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development (SD) within which EE and ESD are embedded.

This paper presents the driving forces for the establishment, evolution and design of relevant activities of these two networks, making also a few inter-comparisons and recommendations for further improvements.

Both regions, the Baltic and the Mediterranean, have multiple needs and high potential for more efficient linking of SD with higher education. Early enough it was realised that regional networking could stimulate countries and universities towards this task. Two networks were set up: the Baltic University Programme (starting already in 1991) and the Mediterranean Universities Network for SD focusing on ESD (starting in 2007). The paper reviews main activities of the networks together with lessons learned and gives directions for their future operations.

This paper is one of the rare case studies related to higher education networking on ESD and demonstrates how networking on ESD, apart from enhancing professional development, supports also SD and promotes cooperation and peace in regions that have a history of frequently turbulent relationships.

The paper aims to review the perceived benefits of the Mediterranean diet alongside traditional or regional foodstuffs, and to examine the extent to which food producers and retailers make use of these labels in order to enhance the perceived value of their products.

The paper draws on marketing literature relating to origin cues within the food industry. It first analyses criteria used by the EU for food labelling, following this with a review of the perceived value of authenticity in foodstuffs, offering an evaluation of Mediterranean‐labelled products available from a leading UK supermarket chain.

The paper involves an exploration into the descriptors used by food producers, suggesting they are designed to respond to consumers’ subjective criteria in food choices with only tenuous links to the promoted origins and corresponding quality designations. It is concluded that regional and Mediterranean labels do not display common dietary or preparation features but are convenient marketing labels designed to enhance food product attributes.

It appears that regional links or the term “Mediterranean”, when linked to foodstuffs, suggest a level of authenticity that is not always borne out in product ingredients and preparation methods. Origin and authenticity are widely held to enhance the perceived attributes of food products but this paper highlights certain mismatches between regional quality marks and food marketing practices. Greater awareness of the practices employed to satisfy “subjective criteria” when making food choices is of benefit to consumers.

This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to provide a backdrop for the rest of cases analysed in the volume. In this regard, two thesis are discussed: the assumption that farming systems in the South have not followed the process of ‘productivist modernisation’ characterising post-war Northern European agricultural change, and that, precisely due to this reason, most holdings and regions from the South would have more possibilities to adapt to new approaches of multifunctional rural development.Thus, the chapter tackles both the static and dynamic structural traits of Southern agricultures and their differences with the North, as well as several aspects of the organisation of farming in the Mediterranean and other key components of productivist modernisation: farm intensification and specialisation. Later, the diffusion of multifunctional dynamics is addressed, in order to introduce some reflections about their meaning and scope in the Mediterranean regions. The chapter ends with a straightforward typology of Southern farming systems and a concluding section, which goes back to discuss the two initial theses.

This study aims to explore and analyzes the risk factors in container shipping and logistics services using a dual perspective. The authors gather data not only from logistics service companies but also from their most important customers.

In this research, the authors used case study methodology (interviews and surveys) to examine risk factors that are related to one another within the interaction between logistics service companies and their customers in the emerging markets of the Mediterranean region (Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya).

The findings show the most important risk factors and compare them using a dual perspective. Customers identify additional risks and estimate their consequences as wider. Interestingly, oil price change plays a dual role because a price increase could be beneficial to the region; at the same time, however, the competitiveness of shipping would decrease. In both response groups, risk likelihood and risk consequence have a positive and statistically significant correlation.

The findings of the study are limited to one shipping/logistics service company. On a global scale, the company is medium-sized; however, in terms of Northern Europe, it is an important player. Extending its service portfolio to the Mediterranean region is an important step.

In emerging markets, risks go hand in hand with profitability, and companies need to apply extensive risk analysis and mitigation strategies to survive.

The southern Mediterranean region is showing some signs of economy recovery. Efficient, robust supply chains are in demand to support sustainable growth.

Using a case study approach in supply chain risk management in shipping is rather rare; this work is ground-breaking in that it uses dual perspective in the analysis.

Over the last years, the olive oil produced in the Mediterranean countries has obtained growing success in international markets. Olive oil has benefited from the growing appetite of European and World consumers for products that are part of the so-called Mediterranean diet. For centuries, the olive crops were vital for communities that have occupied the territories bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this long historical drive, this chapter analyses changes that took place since the Second World War. It is recognized that in the decades that followed the end of the war the transformation of western agriculture and rural societies together with commercial and cultural transnational connections have accelerated. Even in peripheral areas, such as Portugal, different processes of globalization have developed, making it necessary to identify the mechanisms that have established the connections to distant territories. Focused on the Portuguese case, this chapter examines how olive oil has contributed to inserting this peripheral territory in the global trade network. A path analysis of this crop is used as a lens to observe how various factors (political, ecological, technical, commercial, social and institutional) have been combined to inhibit or stimulate the inclusion of these rural territories in the dynamics of globalization.

Which is the main characteristic of the French Mediterranean Agriculture (FMA)? The recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture, supported by the institutions of the territorial development? Or the development of social dumping considered as a necessity by many institutions of the sector? To answer this question the analysis is based on three main sources of data: agricultural statistics, monographs and administrative reports. The results show that the structural diversity is still important in the FMA. A significant proportion of the farms have based their economic strategy on making the most of the multifunctionality of agriculture. Some have built real success stories. But this development path cannot guarantee the viability of a large range of holdings: the number of farm holdings in FMA has decreased by 27% since 2000 and 57% since 1988. Due to the specificities of the Mediterranean productions, the cost of labour is still considered as a major adjustment variable to secure farm income in the region. Many situations are reported where the situation of casual labour is concerning, in particular for migrant workers. However, the working conditions of temporary migrant workers remain invisible and the image of the multifunctional agriculture is put forward as a marketing asset by all types of actors. This image is misleading. It makes invisible, issues that are essential for the future. Thus, it generates knowledge gaps and leads to the depoliticization of debates on the development models of agriculture in masking the contradictions and the conflicts of interest that they generate.

This paper aims to highlight the drivers and trends of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuels of 21 Mediterranean countries, and suggest some policy recommendations to help mitigate them and fostering energy partnership within the studied area.

Simplified Kaya identity was used to analyse the drivers and trends of CO₂ emission from fossil fuels. Data used were retrieved from the US Energy Information Administration and Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre. The analysis considers Northern rim countries and Southern‐Eastern rim countries (SERCs) as separate groups, as well as all together.

The total fossil fuel emissions between 1980 and 2005, the emissions growth rate in 1980s, 1990s, and 2000‐2006 were assessed. The findings put emphasis on the drivers and trends of fuel emissions considering per capita emission, gross domestic product and carbon intensity.

Despite their low contribution to global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions (∼7 percent), the growing energy demands in the Mediterranean countries – especially in the SERCs – shows that there is an urgent and tremendous effort that needs to be addressed at national and regional levels in order to slow down the increasing emissions without impacting the development growth. This paper puts special emphasis on the importance of regional energy and climate‐related frameworks as a systematic approach to endure the impacts of climate change through sustainable ways.

The paper analyses the tourism supply in Southern Italy with the aim to verify the role played by air transport in promoting tourism in Southern Italy among major European sales market. Thus the following items are taken into account: a. The level of competitiveness and main characteristics of tourism supply in Southern Italy, compared with those of the other countries in the Mediterranean Basin, according to holiday offers presented in several catalogues collected among tour operators placed in some major European capitals; b. The level of air accessibility of Southern Italy, provided by its commercial airports, through a deep analysis of airports schedules of Southern Italian airports and their competitors; c. The evolution of the air accessibility in the last three years, and the causal link with major trends verified in the airborne transport market during the recent years. The results of the study show that new trends in the air transport are favouring the development of tourism in South‐Eastern Mediterranean Basin, but airlines tend to centre flights towards areas already providing a well‐developed tourism supply, and where it is more integrated in European sales markets. Countries such as Italy, where the tourism supply is more fragmented are more damaged; whereas Italy, on the one hand, has difficulty in reaching a sufficient level of demand for specific tourist areas, on the other hand, there is a lack of commercial policies coordinated among operators to penetrate the “richest” foreign markets. The main problem for Southern Italian tourism operators is therefore to develop policies strongly integrated among different areas and regions, both on supply organization and in the field of marketing, with the aim to generate the traffic volumes necessary to attract airlines. The increasing in competitiveness faced at the present time by the air transport market, and the increased easiness for the individual customer to choose and book air flights must stimulate those policies.

Sustainable architecture is a well-known and studied subject for severeal decades. The environmental awareness of professionals has put sustainability in the center of the profession of architecture and has resulted in introducing and implementing ecological designs both in the scale of buildings and cities. This article presents sustainable architecture criteria, reckons regional aspects, interprets vernacular architecture and, proposes sustainable housing unit models for Mediterranean region, specifically Cyprus. The article intends to study existing researches regarding the subject, reveals and updates key aspects on sustainable housing by focusing on the passive solar systems through proposals. The article contains proposals of an experimental and conceptual approach of a group of graduate studio course students who are architects and interior designers. The conceptual approaches of design proposals are sustainable through the usage of local materials, orientation, usage of passive solar systems, natural ventilation and lighting, hence these proposals are intended to create a diversity. In that sense, this article presents possibilities of ideal plan layouts and facades for sustainable architectural housing units in Mediterranean region, Cyprus, based on the revealed key aspects on sustainability. The originality of the article is on the design proposals that take inspiration from the characteristics of vernacular architecture, but show a contemporary approach of design.

This chapter aims to estimate the impact of the use of an innovative cultivation method on the social, economic and environmental aspects in the French region Aix-en-Provence, by using the survey data for 200 heterogeneous vegetable producers (organic and conventional). It distinguishes three types of producers in the French region Aix-en-Provence. First, conventional producers (n = 100) who used a high level of mechanization, better access to water, high yield, high labor costs. Second, certified organic producers (n = 70) who used organic technologies such as biotechnology and rotation, low yield, high organic product price compared to conventional products, a family workforce and high transport. Third, noncertified organic producers (n = 30) have used the same technologies as certified organic producers, while they sell their products at the same price as conventional products. Labor is the member of the family. These noncertified farms are marked by high operating and transport costs and low yield compared to conventional producers or certified organic producers. The results show that this cultivation method has a positive effect on the environmental aspect, however a negative one on the social and economic aspect.