Abstract
The Mediterranean diet constitutes a set of skills,
knowledge, practices and traditions ranging from
the landscape to the table, including the crops, har-
vesting, fishing, conservation, processing, prepara-
tion and, particularly, consumption of food. The
Mediterranean diet is characterized by a nutritional
model that has remained constant over time and
space, consisting mainly of olive oil, cereals, fresh
or dried fruit and vegetables, a moderate amount of
fish, dairy and meat, and many condiments and
spices, all accompanied by wine or infusions, always
respecting the beliefs of each community. However,
the Mediterranean diet encompasses more than
just food. It promotes social interaction, since com-
munal meals are the cornerstone of social customs
and festive events. It has given rise to a consider-
able body of knowledge, songs, maxims, tales and
legends. From 15 to 1 9 November 2010 , the Fifth
Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the
Convention will adopt the final decision over the
nominations of new elements to be inscribed in the
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Her-
itage of Humanity.
Between these nominations, there will be the
transnational nomination of the Mediterranean
diet that already obtained in May 2010 a positive
recommendation from the Subsidiary Body of the
Committee. This decision of UNESCO will be a
milestone in the path of the global recognition of
the cultural values of food, agriculture and sus-
tainable diet. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes
the development of a relatively new concept: the
bio-cultural diversity. This concept encompasses
biological diversity at all its levels and cultural di-
versity in all its manifestations. Biocultural diver-
sity is derived from the countless ways in which
humans have interacted with their natural sur-
roundings. Their co-evolution has generated local
ecological knowledge and practices: a vital reser-
voir of experience, methods and skills that help
different societies to manage their resources.
- Not just biodiversity: towards the biocultural di-
versity
Since the 1 980 s of the twentieth century the need to
protect and preserve biological diversity has been a
global priority, becoming a pillar of the United Na-
tions Conference on Environment and Development
held in Rio de Janeiro in 1 992 when it was agreed a
clearer notion of “biodiversity”, also developing an
integration between biodiversity, climate change
and desertification.
At the same time, however, it appeared clear that
the biological diversity of ecosystems could not be
protected without preserving cultural diversity in
that same context at the same time. This awareness
is clear from Article 8 of the Convention on Biolog-
ical Diversity in which the primary objective of the
States Parties to the Convention is not only to safe-
guard the biological diversity of living species, but
to “respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, in-
novations and practices of indigenous and local
communities, which refer to traditional lifestyles
relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity”.
Ten years after Rio, even though first in the scientific
community, the concept of “biocultural diversity”
was born (Maffi, 2001, 2005, 2010).
Integrating biological diversity and cultural diversity
is becoming the mantra of the new century, the new
commitment of States Parties and of the numerous
United Nations conventions.
Since this concept it has been affirmed through dif-
ferent years, several legal instruments were estab-
lished to protect on the one hand biological diversity
in a strict sense (the CBD, for example, but also the
FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Re-
sources for Food Agriculture in 200 1 and the MAB
Programme – UNESCO Man and Biosphere), on the
other hand cultural diversity (UNESCO, first, with
the conventions on cultural heritage and natural
material of 1972, the intangible cultural heritage of
2003 on Cultural Diversity of 2005).
Over the years, the need to integrate the various in-
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