SAVE FOOD: Initiative mondiale de réduction des pertes et du gaspillage alimentaires

Global actors call for ‘radical transformations of food systems’ in 2nd HLPE Note on food and nutrition security

29 Aug 2017

Experts stress the role of food industries and technologies in FLW reductions.

Emerging issues in food and nutrition security were recently outlined in a comprehensive Note coming from the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE).  In the Note "Critical and Emerging Issues for Food Security and Nutrition," global thought leaders were canvassed on the sustainability of food systems, governance and other issues within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

In a nod to the importance of food loss and waste reduction to the efficacy of food systems, experts expressed that the agriculture and the food industry can ‘potentially play a key role in the needed radical transformations of food systems, including in the reduction of food losses and waste all along the food value chains’. By championing knowledge and technology development to improve resource efficiency and enhance resilience and social equity, the Note outlined that the private sector, in particular, can contribute to the sustainable reduction of food loss and waste along the food chain.

The high-level Note was requested by the Committee on World Food Security of the United Nations (CFS) in August 2016 and maps some of the major challenges facing food and nutrition security, flagging emerging issues for action. The foremost science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the HLPE which produced the note, is tasked with providing independent, evidence-based analysis and advice to improve the robustness of policy development.

A result of extensive consultations with 180 institutions, the Note also included an open public enquiry (which attracted 174 answers from 80 different respondents). In addition, three conferences co-organized with Columbia University in May 2016, Hohenheim University in September, 2016 and Agropolis in December, 2016, facilitated interactions between technical experts and political decision-makers.

Experts also identified sustainable production in the agriculture and fisheries sectors as a critical step towards more sustainable food systems. Small-holder access to inputs (including lines of credit), and to infrastructure and markets were listed as pre-conditions for sustainable production. The experts called for the promotion and development of resource efficient and resilient agricultural practices such as sustainable intensification or agroecology.

Six broad thematic clusters were identified by the open enquiry respondents as the main areas for intervention. This included climate change and natural resource management, food chains, social issues, governance, nutrition and health,  and knowledge and technology.

This 2nd note on Critical and Emerging Issues for Food Security and Nutritionwill be presented during the 44th Plenary Session of the CFS, in October 2017. You can read it here: (http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/critical-and-emerging-issues/en/).

 

Tags: HLPE, CFS