The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Food Policy Research Institute today launched a technical platform on the measurement of food loss and waste. Scores of representatives from the development community and The Group of Twenty (G20) converged on the Iran Room in FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy to officially open the online platform to the public.

The Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste was conceptualized during the Turkish Presidency of the G20 and in May 2015, FAO along with International Policy Research Institute were tasked to develop and launch the initiative.  

During the launch, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of FAO said that the platform will raise awareness, advocacy and action to reduce food loss and waste. “It (the platform) will bring new expertise and knowledge for improving metrics. It will also respond to countries’ need for knowledge and good practices,” said Graziano da Silva.

The web-based interactive platform is a repository of knowledge on measuring food loss and waste and will facilitate information-sharing and coordination among a diverse set of key stakeholders such as international organizations, private sector actors, financial institutions and non-governmental organisations. It will also reinforce current efforts to measure food loss and waste developed by FAO and other institutions.

During the launch, Chairperson, Presidency of the G20 (China) Ambassador Dun Niu, emphasized the need for the platform to facilitate south-south cooperation and triangular trade in order to reduce food loss and waste. On December 1, China succeeded Turkey in the presidency of the G20. The Asian powerhouse recently dedicated USD 50 million to FAO’s South-South Cooperation Trust Fund in order to support food systems development in developing countries.

Some key functions of the platform will include;

• Providing evidence-based advocacy on the scope, causes and costs of food loss and waste
• Monitoring global developments on food loss and waste
• Providing multi-agency advisory and technical assistance for work on food loss and waste at the request of governments

Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Shenggen Fan, noted that the platform was important in coordinating global efforts to measure food loss and waste. Highlighting the inconsistent use of definitions and methodology in global efforts to measure and assess food loss and waste, Fan said that the platform will help to shape a collective understanding among actors.

By building on existing platforms such as the Global Community of Practice on Food Loss Reduction, an inter-agency collaboration run by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme, the platform will help to strengthen the coordination of food loss and waste measurements. It also contributes to the Food Loss and Waste Protocol being developed by the World Resources Institute in collaboration with FAO and other partners. The FLW protocol is a multi-stakeholder effort to develop a global accounting and reporting standard for quantifying food loss and waste.

The platform has also been hailed by SAVE FOOD as an important step in gaining a global consensus on measuring.

Sinem Mingan, Deputy Head of Mission, Turkey delivered remarks from Turkey’s outgoing G20 presidency. Mingan hailed the platform for its participatory nature. “This technical platform will foster cooperation among all the partners in a bottom up approach. Although the challenges are global, solutions can be found at the local level.”