FAO unveils platform to help accelerate action on reducing food loss and waste

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) unveiled a comprehensive platform to help the global community step up action to reduce food loss and waste as the UN agency and partners call for increased efforts and gear up for the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste – to be marked for the first time on 29 September 2020.

The Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste brings together information on measurement, reduction, policies, alliances, actions, and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste across the globe.

“Wasting food means wasting scarce natural resources, increasing climate change impacts and missing the opportunity to feed a growing population in the future,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu at the launch of the platform.

The FAO chief urged the public and the private sector and individuals to promote, harness and scale-up policies, innovation and technologies to reduce food loss and waste, and ensure that the first international day will be meaningful and influential.

He was joined in his call for greater efforts to reduce food loss and waste – especially at a time when COVID-19 further exposed the vulnerabilities of and need for more resilient food systems – by representatives of a range of partner organisations and FAO member states.

The platform is as a gateway to all FAO food loss and waste resources, including: the largest online collection of data on what food is lost and wasted and where; discussion forum on food loss reduction; examples of successful initiatives; e-learning courses; food loss and waste policy brief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; and tips on what everyone can do to reduce food waste.

It also connects to related portals from development partners, serving as a one stop shop for all food loss and waste knowledge.

Original source: FAO
Published on 29 July 2020