The Sustainability Level of Agricultural Food Markets: Selected Indicators From Mediterranean Countries

Introduction

The humanity has accepted that natural resources have been declining rapidly and also there has been a huge pollution among natural environment including seas, oceans and lands (Yıldırım et.al., 2018). Due to the effect of rising climate change and global warming, scientist warns economies to adapt sustainable policies (NASA Global Climate Change). Recent indicators also support the assumption that climate change should be stopped in the short term to save the next generation (World Meteorological Organization, 2021). In this point, 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guides economies to follow sustainable policies for critical titles such as food, water, energy, climate change etc. (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States, resulting in a global guide for the realization of 17 basic sustainable development goals. The 2030 SDGs contain very comprehensive sub-targets in order to eliminate other deprivations and problems, especially poverty, and to accelerate the fight against climate change. For many years, United Nations has been continuing its important initiatives for the fight against climate change and sustainability. For example, Agenda 21 was adopted in June 1992. The Millennium Declaration was adopted in September 2000. At this point, it can be said that the first sustainable development goals emerged. 8 key targets have been accepted as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. Paris Agreement on Climate Change and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which took place in 2015, are important initiatives (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). The acceptance of the SDGs as a global project necessitates a coordinated implementation of sustainable policies. The 2030 SDGs have a broader framework, being more comprehensive than the millennium goals and emphasizing global cooperation (Weber, 2017). Sustainable development goals (SDGs) have an important place in the success of food security. Sustainable development goals are not essentially authoritative or strictly binding laws, but serve as an adaptive guide that guides countries in the global framework. There may be some differences between priority areas for each country or economy. Therefore, each economy may have targets that can be prioritized in sustainability targets according to its own priority (Echendu, 2022).

Although food insecurity and water stress are old problems in the world, the last decade has pointed out that food insecurity (Yıldırım and Yıldırım, 2021) and water stress (Esen et.al., 2020) have challenged developed and developing countries. Especially, the Covid-19 pandemic showed that food insecurity was a real problem for each economy in the world. In fact, there was no any good signal for achieving food security or ending hunger until 2030 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the report as “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021”, it was seen that the hunger increased by 2020. For example, it was determined that there was higher numbers of people with hunger in 2020 rather than 2019 (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021). While FAO continues to work for sustainable food and agriculture, it also emphasizes the importance of the sustainable food relationship with sustainable development goals. According to FAO, there are 5 basic principles. In these principles, there are 20 basic actions related to sustainable development goals (FAO, 2018). These actions serve as a guide for countries to link the many sectors of agriculture and rural development with a broader development program covering poverty eradication, job creation, national growth, urban renewal and natural resource richness. The basic principles given for sustainable food and agriculture principles defined by FAO are shown in Figure 1 (FAO, 2018):

Figure 1.

Five principles for achieving sustainable food and agriculture

Source: adapted from FAO, 2018 and created by the authors