Securing food for growing populations while minimizing environmental externalities is becoming a key topic in the current sustainability debate. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean region, which is characterized by scarce natural resources and increasing climate-related impacts. This paper focuses on the pressure Mediterranean people place on the Earth ecosystems because of their food consumption and sourcing patterns and then explores ways in which such pressure can be reduced. To do so, it uses an Ecological-Footprint-Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output (EF-MRIO) approach applied to 15 Mediterranean countries. Results indicate that food consumption is a substantial driver of the region's ecological deficit, whereby demand for renewable resources and ecosystems services outpaces the capacity of its ecosystems to provide them. Portugal, Malta and Greece are found to have the highest per capita food Footprints (1.50, 1.25 and 1.22 global hectares (gha), respectively), while Slovenia, Egypt and Israel have the lowest (0.63, 0.64 and 0.79gha, respectively). With the exception of France, all Mediterranean countries rely on the biocapacity of foreign countries to satisfy their residents' demand for food. By analyzing the effect of shifting to a calorie-adequate diet or changing dietary patterns, we finally point out that the region's Ecological Footprint - and therefore its ecological deficit - could be reduced by 8% to 10%.

Food waste (FW) is seen as an obstacle to achieving food and nutrition security and food systems sustainability. It is known in literature that households are significant contributors to the total amount of FW. This paper reports on results of an online survey that was conducted from February to April 2015 with a random sample of 281 Tunisian adults. The aim of the survey is to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW; impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; quantity and value of FW; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. The sample was not gender-balanced (71.2% female and 28.8% male). The majority of the respondents was young (70.8% aged between 18 and 34 years) and has high education level (95.4% having university and PhD degrees). Food waste is prevalent in Tunisia as about the half of respondents declare that they throw food. The most wasted food products are fruits, vegetables, and cereals and bakery products. Only 42.7% of respondents declared that the economic value of food waste generated each month is more than 6US$. Most of Tunisian respondents have a good understanding of food labels that is probably due to the high education level of the sample. About 37% of respondents throw weekly at least 250 g of still consumable food. To reduce FW in Tunisia it is important to set a strategy at all food chain levels. There is also an urgent need to raise people's and organizations awareness towards this problem. This article provides a basis for the development of other more context specific investigations and interventions for the prevention of household FW in Tunisia.

Food losses and waste (FLW) is a phenomenon that has been underestimated, littlestudied and poorly documented in the Mediterranean countries. Actually, nopolicies, laws, strategies and action plans have been implemented to reduce FLWin Algeria. This exploratory study aims to evaluate household FW in Algeria. Anonline survey with 323 Algerian households was conducted in February-April 2015to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW;impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; FW quantity andvalue; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. Sample is genderbalanced(54% female and 46% male) and rather young (93% are less than 44 yearsold) while most of respondents have high education level. Results show thathousehold planning and shopping activities are significant forecasters of FW.Attitudes may change according to periods especially in Ramadan (88% ofrespondents declare that FW increase during this month) and to the category offood (most wasted product groups are fruits and vegetables, cereals and bakeryproducts). Most of the respondents have a good understanding of “use by” fooddate label while they still confuse the meaning of “best before”. It seems that FW iswidespread in Algeria as only 1% of respondents declare that they do not waste anyfood. About 15% declare that their households throw away at least 250 g of stillconsumable food each week. Even though Algeria is considered as a developingcountry, an important part of food wastage occurs at consumer level as in high andmiddle income countries. In order to reduce food waste, efforts should be directedtowards providing consumers with skills and tools to deal with their food-relatedactivities and to better consider the impact of food waste on the environment andeconomy.

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Immediate action is required in the Mediterranean to address environmental degradation that is mainly driven by consumption patterns. Increasing stress on biological and social systems is put by unsustainable consumption patterns. Food consumption patterns are important drivers of environment degradation. The objective of this review paper is to explore natural resources-food nexus in the Mediterranean region by highlighting the environmental footprints of the current consumption and production patterns. Secondary data from different sources such as FAOSTAT, the World Bank, Water Footprint Network (WFN), and Global Footprint Network were used to analyze the situation in 21 Mediterranean countries. The region faces many environmental challenges, e.g., land degradation, water scarcity, environment pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. The current consumption patterns imply high ecological, carbon, and water footprints of consumption and unfavorable national virtual-water balances. Food Balance Sheets data show that the contribution of vegetal and animal-based food product groups to food supply is variable among the Mediterranean countries. This has implications also in terms of the WF of food supply, which was calculated for Bosnia, Egypt, Italy, Morocco, and Turkey. The WF of the current diet resulted lower than that of the proposed Mediterranean one in the case of Italy. There is a strong scientific evidence supporting assumption that it is so also for other Mediterranean countries. The Mediterranean is characterized by a high resource use intensity that is further exacerbated by food losses and waste (FLW). In fact, FLW implies the loss of precious resources (water, land, energy) and inputs (fertilizers). Therefore, it is crucial to increase adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet and to reduce FLW in order to foster transition to more sustainable food consumption patterns thus reducing pressure on the scarce resources of the Mediterranean region.

In order to determine the amount and value of food waste, a regional survey was carried out, among others, in the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), at the beginning of 2016. A number of 581 respondents participated in on-line survey and their answers were processed using descriptive statistics and dualnon-parametric test. The results of the research were presented according to logical units: socioeconomic characteristics of households; general habits when buying food; attitude toward food products shelf life; attitude toward food waste and factors of rational use of food. Most households in BiH prepare meals at home, and do not often eat in a restaurant or buy ready-made food. Food is mostly purchased in supermarkets and hypermarkets and about half of the respondents discard less than 0.5 kg of food weekly, the value of which is less than 5 euros. The above and other results suggest that food waste in BiH is still not a big problem, which is a consequence of the tradition and way of life, but also of low living standard.

SUMMARYThe food arena, which is at the interface of different economic sectors, is characterised by the presence of numerous actors with often different and even competing agendas. This is exacerbated by the lack of a deep and common understanding of the issues at play and their interdependencies. The review paper aims at highlighting the multifaceted and multidimensional relations and linkages between food and nutrition security, diets and food systems in the context of sustainability. The paper addresses also other issues, which are relevant in sustainable food systems context, such as sustainable consumption and production, typical and traditional foods, and food losses and waste. Food security is built on four pillars: availability, access, use, and stability. It is strongly linked to nutrition security. Sustainable diets are environmentallyfriendly and contribute to food security and healthy life. The Mediterranean diet, which encompasses a plethora of traditional and typical foods, is considered by many scholars as an example of sustainable diet. Food systems should deliver food security and nutrition for present and future generations that is why all components of food systems should be sustainable, resilient and efficient. Moving towards more sustainable food systems implies also reducing food losses and waste along the food chain. Sustainability should be considered as a dimension of long-term food security. From such a perspective the concept of sustainable diets can play a key role. To address food and nutrition challenges, food systems have to be considered in their entirety, acknowledging the interdependency of consumption and production. These linkages are shown in the global Zero Hunger Challenge initiative and should be highlighted and further operationalized in global food-related strategies (e.g. 10 Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Food Systems) as well as regional strategies such as the Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan for the Mediterranean.