Food Loss and Waste Reduction Conference

In the Encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls for changes globally to overcome the “throw away culture.” A representation of this culture is Food Loss and Waste (FLAW), which has serious moral repercussions, in view of the prevailing hunger by more than 820 million people and lack of access to healthy diets by 2 billion people (FAO’s SOFI report 2019). Resources are ecoming scarcer, such as water and fertile lands, because food is produced but never eaten. FLAW significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions (SOFA 2019) and thereby to climate change and its consequences. FLAW is detrimental to the planet and its people. It is morally, economically and environmentally unacceptable in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We call on our leaders, and on all of us, for deepened commitment to action toward halving food loss and waste by 2030 — an achievable goal based on existing knowledge and technology. Yet, even while it is within our ability to tackle, FLAW reduction needs more attention and investment. Successfully achieving the target 12.3 of the United Nations SDGs requires a new perspective on how to reduce the use of resources and increase the efficiency of the production, preservation, processing and distribution of food at the producer, intermediary, processor and wholesale level (i.e. losses in the value chain). It also requires addressing our “throwaway culture”. For that, education, awareness, and behavioral change among consumers and retailers, are critical. Our conference therefore calls for renewed global dialogue at the highest levels of government, business, religion, and civil society to achieve the target of halving FLAW by 2030.