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During the FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “For a sustainable future food system” some speakers explored the needs for a food system transformation and the role played by food waste prevention. In fact, there is an increasing agreement that the food system currently in place is no longer sustainable. A first hint of this assumption is the huge quantity of food that is wasted or lost throughout the food supply chain (8% of GHG emissions, ¼ of the water used in agriculture is wasted, massive use of lands and deforestation etc.). Moreover, the containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic ha
... Подробнееve drastically impacted the essential flow of food from farms and producers to consumers. The food supply chain is broken and needs to be changed: following the transition from a linear to a circular economy, it is now needed to use this momentum as an opportunity to re-design and move to a food system model with future resilience. On the other side the problem of food insecurity in Europe is growing with millions of people in precarious situations and in need. Moreover, there is a climate emergency and many analyses declared that governments around the world will not meet the Paris Agreement’s targets without tackling food loss and waste. Therefore, it is evident how food loss and waste prevention is an integral part of the food system transformation. During the FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “For a sustainable future food system” some game-changer aspects were identified in this regard starting from the interconnectivity of this process. What are the key aspects that need to be transformed within the food system? Everything it is interconnected and to face a problem it is necessary to look at the entire picture with all the interconnectivities. Regarding the food loss and waste, it is fundamental to look at the framework of public and private actors and the role played by governments, businesses and civil society organisations. These actors should have a better understanding and a more mature approach to think about accountability and processes across that systems. The first game changer is about the private-public partnerships and the links between governments and businesses that work in the food supply chain to adopt all the measures necessary to get the targets. In this relation, the European Union is working to build a solid framework to facilitate the cooperation and coordination between the stakeholders, the public authorities and the civil society organisations such as the Food Banks. Another crucial issue to look at to transform the food system is the level of food waste at household consumption and the consumers’ education and the involvement of grass-roots organisations as Food Banks in this movement for change. Another important point is work to close the loop of food waste and to put in place the miracle of circular economy where Food Banks play a crucial role to redistribute food for human consumption. During the conference was highlighted in fact the central role Food Banks have to address all these issues in the food system transformation. In this context, one of the main challenge is the farmer’s engagement by businesses to reduce food loss and waste and getting governments to prioritise this issue on the different agendas. Most of the countries and governments are addressing the Paris Agreement’s targets but without mentioning the importance to tackle food loss and waste. Therefore, raising awareness it is really important but to really act towards these objectives actors need funding – to have proper storages, good infrastructures, know-how etc. COVID-19 demonstrated the fragility of the food system where the slogan ‘build back better’ emerged illustrating the need for change. This situation forced the Food Banks to emerge demonstrating the fundamental contribution for the food system’s resilience and to support the most needed in our societies. In this context, the support to Food Banks should be put in the agendas, for the role that they can play globally. COVID-19 has given visibility that pre-existing problems and demonstrated how broken the food system is. In this framework, the situation gave visibility to the Food Banks that very quickly adapted to the situation. Therefore, it is the time for Food Banks to start seeing themselves integral and active parts of the food system transformation and policy makers must looking at Food Banks with the same eyes as well. Скрыть
Направления деятельности: 1, 2, 4, 5
Ключевые слова: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Governance, Human rights, Innovation, Policy, Trade-offs