International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
A triple win opportunity for food security, sustainability and the planet – Global event on 29 September 2022, 15:55 (CET) – to register click here.
Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) plays a crucial role in ensuring better nutrition for the world’s current and future generations. It presents a triple win opportunity, for the climate, for the availability of nutritious food and for improving the overall sustainability of our food systems. The time for action to support food security and nutrition in the midst of the current food price crisis is now.
Around 14 percent of the world’s food is lost when it is harvested and before it reaches the shops, while a further 17 percent of our food ends up being wasted by retailers and consumers. Yet there an estimated 3.1 billion people worldwide who do not have access to a healthy diet and some 828 million people continue to go hungry.
Food loss and waste also account for 8 -10 percent of total global GHGs – contributing to an unstable climate and extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding. These changes negatively impact crop yields, reduce the nutritional quality of crops, cause supply chain disruptions and threaten food security and nutrition.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for halving per-capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains.
On 29 September 2022, at 15:55 (CET) a global event organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP will celebrate the third International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
The event will make a clear call to action for public and private entities from across the food system to act now to reduce FLW and raise awareness among consumers of the urgent need for actions they can take to cut food waste.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and Ligia Noronha, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of UNEP, New York Office will deliver the opening remarks.
There will also be messages from Pope Francis and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, while Danish Agriculture Minister Rasmus Prehn will deliver a keynote speech.
A panel discussion entitled Generating climate benefits for people and the planet through food loss and waste reduction will also be held.
To follow the global event, please register here.
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