Mediterra 2009, the eleventh Ciheam annual report, has been drawn up in the context of an innovative regional approach and has the special feature of uniting the efforts of the Ciheam − the only intergovernmental organisation in the Mediterranean Basin − and the Blue Plan, the Regional Activity Centre of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), which is the only cooperation forum bringing together all of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This partnership is founded on a deep-rooted, and now established, relationship between the two institutions, which forms the core of the converging missions of reflection and action in the service of development in the Mediterranean. The Ciheam and the Blue Plan have been working in close collaboration since 2005, aiming in particular to give substance to the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development, which was adopt - ed by the riparian countries and the European Community in 2005, and to concur in constructing this edition of Mediterra focusing on the monitoring and evaluation of sustainable development policies in rural areas. Convinced that climate change, responsible management of natural resources and new regional dynamics are several of the most decisive variables for Mediterranean farming systems and rural worlds, they first examined the contrasting statuses of sustainable rural development in the Mediterranean region and gradually built up this work around a series of topics where socio-economic issues are examined in terms of sustainability imperatives. With food insecurity back in the world headlines, agriculture has once again become the crucial concern in international strategies. So it is not surprising that Mediterra 2009 has followed this trend, underlining that the depletion of water and land resources and the vulnerability of farming systems will most certainly be the baseline trends of an otherwise unpredictable 21st century. One of the key messages of this report lies in the following simple, yet essential, statement of fact: there will be no rural development in the Mediterranean region without dynamic agricultural policies, and there can be no agricultural development without rural vitality.