Enabling the change on Food Loss and Waste Reduction in Europe and Central Asia
©Klaus Pichler, FAO
As the world marks the third International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU) is calling for stronger action to end the culture of throwing out food uneaten and in so doing, help to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution.
For this purpose, FAO REU, in partnerships with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Türkiye, and the Economic Cooperation Organization Regional Coordination Centre for Food Security, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of The Netherlands’’, under the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture, is organising a Regional Conference on Food Loss and Waste Reduction in Europe and Central Asia “Enabling the change”, in a hybrid format on 5 –6 October 2022, in Istanbul, Türkiye, and virtually on Zoom.
The conference will focus on identifying essential elements of enabling environments and tools, including legislative and business innovations, food loss and waste reduction strategies, and practical interventions that support the transition to sustainable food value chains.
The conference will explore a broad spectrum of recent developments and challenges in the field of food loss and waste in Europe (including the European Union) and Central Asia, and offer opportunities for interactive exchange of experience and explore potential solutions.
Speakers include experts from Copa-Cogeca, DG SANTE, Economic Cooperation Organization Regional Coordination Centre for Food Security (ECO-RCCFS), EIT Food, European Food Information Council (EUFIC), European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), Glovo, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Food Waste Coalition (IFWC), Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of The Netherlands, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye, Ogilvy Consulting, Rabobank, Sodexo, Tetra Pak, Too Good To Go, UNECE, WholeSurplus, WRAP, WRI, Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
Why is it important to reduce food loss and waste?
Around 14 percent of the world's food is lost after harvest, up to - but not including the retail stage of the supply chain, and an estimated 17 per cent is wasted in retail and at the consumption level.
This food loss and waste account for 8 -10 per cent of the 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 – specifically SDG 12, target 12.3 – calls for halving per- capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains.
An estimated 3.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to a healthy diet and some 828 million people go hungry. All of this means there is an urgent need to accelerate action to reduce food loss and waste.
With eight years left to reach the target, the urgency for scaling up action to reduce food loss and waste cannot be overemphasized. Reducing food loss and waste presents an opportunity for immediate climate benefits while improving the overall sustainability of our food systems – a necessary transformation to ensure better planetary and nutritional outcomes for current and future generations.