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For many people on the planet today, food is a given. But for the staggering estimated 811 million people who are hungry, and the additional 132 million people threatened by food and nutrition
insecurity brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, sufficient food is not a guarantee.
Yet, approximately 14 percent of the world’s food, valued at $ 400 billion, is lost each year between harvest and retail and an estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17 percent of total food
available to consumers in 2019, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services.
Food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of our agri-food systems. When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce this food - including water, land, energy, labour
and capital - go to waste. In addition, the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. Food loss and waste can also negatively impact food security and food availability, and contribute
to increasing the cost of food.
Now, more than ever, there is the need to recognize that food is worth more than its price and to acknowledge the values associated with food, as well as the farmers who produce it, the natural
resources that go into producing it and the increasing number of people who go without it.
On 29 September 2021, 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 International Day of
Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
FAO Director-General
QU Dongyu and UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen will deliver the opening remarks.
Video messages from several ministers and other high-level representatives will be shown along with a video presentation on the
The Food is Never Waste Coalition.
The event will focus on the need to adopt integrated approaches designed to reduce food loss and waste. Actions are required globally and locally to maximise the use of the food we produce. This
includes technologies, innovative solutions (including e-commerce platforms for marketing, retractable mobile food processing systems), new ways of working and good practices to manage food quality and reduce food loss and waste.
A panel discussion:
Accelerating the pace of food loss and waste reduction toward improving agri-food systems outcomes
will include the following participants:
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Vivian Hoffmann, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute
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Claire Sand, Global Packaging Expert
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Ankit Kawatra, Founder and Director, Zomato Feeding India
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Christophe Diercxsens, Global Public Affairs Manager, Too Good To Go
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Andrea Segrè, Professor of Comparative Food Policy, Waste Watcher International Observatory, University of Bologna
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Beatrice Cyiza, Director General for Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Environment of Rwanda
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Nie Fengying, Deputy Director General, Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
To follow the global event, please register
here.
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