Abstract

Corresponding to about 1.7 planets, the human demand of natural resources and services connected to ecosystem is causing serious imbalances among countries. It is contributing to the decrease of Earth’s biodiversity and threatening at the same time the wealth of future generations and the stability of the planet. Ensuring food for a growing global population and minimizing environmental impact is becoming a key topic in the fight against climate change and unsustainability. The ways human societies produce, transform, distribute, consume and waste food are increasingly considered as key areas of intervention to reverse unsustainable trends. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean area, a region characterized by low natural resources and a growing impact on climate. This article studies the pressure of Mediterranean area’s inhabitants on terrestrial ecosystems as a consequence of their consumption and provision models in order to understand how this pressure can be reduced.