Preventing Food Waste: Innovations and solutions in the Arab region
Hybrid Event, 28/04/2021
11:00 AM – 01:00 PM (GMT+2) / webinar hosted by the FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa & UNEP West Asia
There isn’t a more complex context for food waste than in the Arab region, whose unique culture, religions, history, and climate impact on the decision and behaviors of consumers and retailers with regards to food waste. Given the region's limited natural resources and dependency on food imports to meet nutritional needs, the high levels of food waste at retail and in West Asia is not only uneconomical, it is harmful to the environment and the region's food security. Of all food lost and wasted in the Arab region, about 1/3 is wasted at retail and consumer levels. Certainly there is need to manage the generation, reuse or recycling, and disposal of food and non-food organic waste in a circular bio-economy. However, what can we do to prevent food waste from occurring in the first place? What new solutions can we examine and learn from, bearing in mind the impacts of COVID-19 on food retail and consumption and on digitalization of food systems? The webinar, convened jointly by UNEP West Asia and FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, invites stakeholders to exchange knowledge and experience about solutions ranging from measurement to social, technological, and policy innovations to tackle food waste.
Interpretation available in English, French and Arabic