SFS WEBINAR: Promoting partnerships and synergies for food loss and waste reduction

The 10YFP is a global commitment that was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, in response to the need to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in both developed and developing countries. The One Planet network has formed to implement the commitment of the 10YFP through six thematic programmes, one of which is the Sustainable Food Systems Programme (SFS Programme), a global multi-stakeholder partnership to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable food systems.

The SFS Programme will organise a webinar on ‘Promoting Partnerships and Synergies for Food Loss and Waste Reduction’ on 20th September 2018, featuring presentations from organisations whose food loss and waste (FLW) activities are open to collaboration with other actors. The webinar will be conducted in two sessions, one in English (14:00-15:30 CEST) and the second in Spanish (16:00-17:30 CEST). SFS Programme members, partners of the One Planet (10YFP) network, as well as external partners are invited to attend.

Link to the webinar : http://fao.adobeconnect.com/partnership_flw/

 

Report on the webinar ‘Promoting Partnerships and Synergies for Food Loss and Waste Reduction’

I - Introduction

The webinar was organised on 20 September 2018 by the One Planet Sustainable Food Systems Programme, with the objective of fostering collaboration among various stakeholders towards the common goal of food loss and waste reduction. The webinar had two sessions, one in English and the second in Spanish.

The following organisations made presentations:

• (English session) World Wide Fund for Nature International (WWF), OzHarvest Australia, and FAO
• (Spanish session) Cadenas de Valor Sustentables (CAV+S) Chile, Brazilian Network of Food Banks, Brazilian business council for sustainable development (CEBDS)

Participants: A total 44 people participated in the webinar

Moderators: the English session was moderated by Mr. Divine Njie of FAO, while the Spanish session was moderated by Ms. Marina Bortoletti of UN Environment.

 

II – Summary of the presentations and potential partnership opportunities

1.       Oz-harvest: Established 40 years ago with a business model based on four pillars: Rescue surplus food from across food supply chain (3500 food donors to 1300 charitable organizations); Engage with a wide range of partners such as private sector companies, individual, foundations and the press; Educate consumers and businesses to shift and change their behaviour on reducing food waste and sustainable life; and Innovate (for example, the very first free supermarket in Australia). Oz-harvest’s next phase to fight food waste is peer-to-peer advocacy model using human centred design thinking to create solutions for consumers by consumers. Oz-harvest builds partnerships to communicate one consistent message through different channels and by various stakeholders. It works with academia to understand the drivers of behavioural models of food waste interventions, with federal government to influence policy change, local government and local councils to develop better infrastructure to reduce and recycle food waste, corporate partners for funding and new food product development and with national food businesses.  Oz-harvest is happy to share its models with other organisations for food rescue and interventions as they have replicated in the UK, New Zealand, Thailand and South Africa. Oz-harvest is not a food bank and does not warehouse food; however, it works closely with food banking networks and supports them.

 

Potential partnership opportunities:

• Oz-harvest’s business model can be shared with interested partners who are willing to learn and replicate the model in their practices.
• The peer-to-peer advocacy model to reduce food waste heavily relies on collaborating with academia, local governments and businesses.

 

2.       WWF - Hotel kitchen initiative: The mission of this initiative is to institutionalize food waste prevention through separation and measurement, donation and recycling. It works with the private sector, schools, farms, restaurants and grocery stores and hospitality industry. A tool kit was developed and piloted in hotels, based on the weight watchers program where hotels measured their food waste with an intention to reduce or donate it. Training videos for staff in the hospitality service and tools are free to access online, menus are redesigned, etc. Results included a 10-30%+ reduction of food waste over 6 months, savings for business, community dynamics and staff engagement and more sustainable consumption.  

 

Potential partnership opportunities:

• The full tool kit is online and free to access and could be shared with interested organisations e.g. catering services, restaurants, hotels
• WWF is looking to collaborate with universities across the world and collaborating with value chain actors in particular around using technologies for food waste measurement and staff engagement as an effective tool to reduce food waste.

 

3.       FAO:  presented the Rome-based agencies global Community of Practice (CoP) on food loss reduction: This platform has the potential to showcase the work of its members and to foster knowledge exchange and sharing of viable solutions to address food losses. The CoP is being broadened from a focus on grains to include perishable products such as fruits and vegetables.

 

Potential partnership opportunities:

• Registering as a member of the CoP facilitate exchange of knowledge and good practices.

 

4.       CAV+S: Discussed the impact of culture on the food loss and waste generation in Chile, based on a study that was carried out across the life cycle of food loss. Partnership for development of quantification methodology is needed to facilitate reporting on SDG 12.3.

 

Potential partnership opportunities:

• Development of a quantification methodology: In Chile, the Ministry of Agriculture is working with FAO and a university to prepare a methodology /tool for quantification of food waste, using the Market Basket Measure (MBM) approach. [1]
• The Chilean Food Network would be eager to exchange knowledge and best practices for linking the diet diversification with food waste reduction.

 

5.       Brazilian network of food banks: The public municipality is responsible for the governance mechanisms of the network, in collaboration with NGOs, the steering committee of the network, small regional networks of food banks and other organisations. Recognising the necessity of collaboration, all the partners are involved in management of the systems and in implementation. The network is facing challenges concerning efficient logistics, potential for growth, need for investment in technologies, and improving the distribution while maintaining the current links and collaboration in their practices.

 

Potential partnership opportunities:

• Brazilian network of food banks would be interested in knowledge and experience sharing on the challenges of distribution and efficient logistics, the best way to link donors and beneficiaries and to effectively collaborate across the supply chain
• Possibility to connect Food Bank Network to interested organizations such as Food Bank Network of Argentina to share work dynamics and exchange experiences.

 

6.       Brazilian business council for sustainable development (CEBDS): This is a collaborative platform that was created by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Low Carbon Technologies Partnership Initiative (LCTPi). Its objectives are to accelerate the diffusion of existing technologies by removing technological, market and social barriers and introducing policy and financial instruments and to develop Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for potentially game changing new technologies. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH) are among the approaches. Integrating CSA and FReSH efforts towards a production, storage, distribution and consumption that prioritize GHG emissions reduction, climate change resilience and adaptation, and reduction on loss and waste.

Currently they are piloting a project seeking to engage food loss and waste (FLW) reduction methodologies in CSA pilot projects. The other activity includes integrating CSA and FLW in a simple, user-friendly smartphone App.

 

Opportunities for partnership:

• An international workshop to be held in Brazil in the first semester of 2019 uniting food producers, suppliers, traders, buyers and retailers.
• Linking to partners who are interested in the smartphone App to embody distributed monitoring systems and easily updated information.

 

III – Further Information

 

For further information on any of these opportunities or to liaise with any of the presenters, contact the moderator of the webinar at [email protected]

For further information about the One Planet Sustainable Food Systems Programme, visit the site: http://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/sustainable-food-system

 

[1]    Based on concepts developed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), the Market Basket Measure (MBM) is a measure of low income based on the cost of a specified basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living.