Mediterranean livestock farming systems have evolved in response to the multiple changes that occurred and they must now adapt to current and future pressures, including the strong demographic growth and urbanization in the coastal line, high competition for land and water as well as abandonment in hinterland. The potential sustainable intensification processes are generally complex depending both on exogenous opportunities and on endogenous capacities and representations. We assume that the mixed farming systems, as livelihood strategy, and the integration of livestock and crops, to improve economic and environmental efficiency through recycling, are possible options for sustainable intensification of farming systems. The CLIMED project aimed i) to characterize the dynamics of farming systems and identify their drivers and ii) to assess the technical, economic and socio-ecological viability of livestock systems. This aims at helping farmers, communities, researchers and decision-makers defining management priorities and improving planning so as to deal better with socio-environmental issues. The project was implemented from 2013 to 2016. The activities were performed in three countries: Egypt, France and Morocco, through case studies in a gradient of various socio-ecological contexts, from favourable contexts (plains, irrigation infrastructure) to harsher contexts (mountains, rainfed). Surveys and monitoring at farm level were conducted to assess various efficiencies. Interviews of actors, mobilization of databases and previous studies were performed to analyse the dynamics of systems in the last decades and to assess their adaptive capacities. Finally, a transversal analysis enables to identify 5 archetypical farming systems at Mediterranean scale and to perform a qualitative assessment, from quantitative results obtained in the three countries. We identified two main trends and five archetypical systems: a centrifugal trend of specialization, toward cash crop (1)