Innovative Circular Solutions to reduce food loss and waste in the city: 'From Problem to Resource'

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

It is a pleasure to be here today. 

1. The world currently produces enough food to feed its entire population, yet hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are unacceptably high, while the environmental impact of agrifood systems is substantial. 
2. More than 730 million people across the globe are undernourished, 2.8 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. 
3. At the same time, an estimated 13.2 percent of food is lost in the supply chain after harvest prior to retail, and a further 19 % is wasted in households, food services and retail. Furthermore, food loss and waste consume large quantities of land, water, labor and inputs, and is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. 
4. The circular economy provides a holistic approach to tackle the multi-faceted issue of food loss and food waste, driving innovation and promoting sustainability within agrifood systems. 
5. Advancing the circular economy is critical to realizing progress toward achieving the interlinked SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. In relation to food loss and waste, the circular approach can contribute to achieving the SDG target 12.3 that seeks to halve per-capita food waste and reduce food losses, including post-harvest losses.   
6. Examples of applying a circular approach in food loss and waste reduction include:
   1. Recovering food that would otherwise be wasted by retailers and restaurants, and redistributing food to food Banks and charities
   2. Diverting food that would otherwise be wasted into animal feed or transforming it into non-food products
   3. Recycling food, inedible parts and by-products through treatments as composting to produce organic fertilizer and anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. 
7. Technological innovation plays a critical role in accelerating the realization of the transition to circularity, toward creating more sustainable and equitable food systems. For example:
   1. Digital technology innovations can help food services (restaurants and hotels) to quickly identify food banks;
   2. Artificial Intelligence can help design logistics arrangements for picking up and distributing food; and,
8. With over half of the world’s population currently living in urban areas, applying circular economy approaches to reduce food loss and waste is becoming an imperative in urban areas. 
9. I am very pleased that in today’s event we will hear the experiences of the cities of Brussels and New York in implementing such actions as reducing food waste at source in the household through good practices, quantifying and characterizing the waste streams, and organizing mass awareness campaigns. 
10. The circular approach requires transformative change within our agrifood systems and the participation of a broad spectrum of actors in the design and development of the cross-cutting policy objectives needed to reduce food loss and waste in a sustainable manner. 
11. Partnerships with the private sector, public, academia and civil society is critical, each one having a unique role to play. I look forward to learning from non-state actors here today.
12. As the lead UN agency for food and agriculture, FAO plays a key role in transforming global agrifood systems through our various technical interventions and initiatives, such as the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, the World Food Forum, and the Green Cities Programme with its strong focus on applying the bioeconomy to tackle real needs in cities through sustainable waste management, the cultivation of local agricultural resources and the economic empowerment necessary for bolstering food security. 
13. In closing, let me affirm FAO’s desire to work with all relevant partners to steer the future of our agrifood systems toward achieving the ‘four betters’: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
14. Thank you for your attention.