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Background and Food for Thought
Food loss and waste requires multifaceted holistic policy perspectives to reduce food loss and waste and create real impact. Food insecurity caused by the lack of availability of food is one of these areas, where making the existing food available could result in major changes. Another area impacted by food produced and never consumed are our depleting natural resources and the related burden on the environment. Effective measures to reduce, redistribute and revalorize food lost/wasted could help ease this burden and at the same time, open new income generating possibilities. Economic losses of the producers and packers early in the supply chain are often very high – particularly at aggregated national levels. In addition, only slowly are important ‘climate action’ angles linked to food loss and waste reduction policies. What could be the potential means or policy tools that reduce food loss and toss and what needs to be in place to define effective measures? The systematic recording of data through innovative IT solutions for example on how and where the food is lost can provide governments with crucial indications for devising appropriate interventions. Cities, departmental units or rural areas might need different approaches and integrated food management systems. The conference will discuss these issues and provide food for thought to contribute towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including SDG 12, 2, 13, 8 and 17.
Registration
To attend the Food Loss Conference, please register online. Note that the Conference will take place in the context of the UNECE Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards.
If you are not able to join physically, follow the conference through Facebook live streaming (first hour only)
Please do not hesitate to contact the secretariat by e-mail for any further details.
Practical information can be accessed at the UNOG Security Service (Pregny gate).
Programme (download as .pdf)
| 15.00 - 15.20 | Opening Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Director, FAO Geneva Office Nicola Koch, Chef de Cabinet, UNECE |
| 15.20 – 15.45 | Food Loss and Waste – Possible policy options for the governments and Community of Practice – the international perspective Rosa Rolle, FAO PDF |
| 15.45 – 16.05 | Linking the missing food with the missing buyer – how is UNECE addressing such Food Loss and Waste Liliana Annovazzi-Jakab, UNECE |
| 16.05 - 16.30 | How to move forward on food loss and waste reduction Andrea Cattaneo, FAO PDF |
| 16.30 - 16.45 | Introduction to initiatives and advocacies for food loss and waste |
| 16.45 – 17.05 | Cities and the food loss/waste challenge – the experience of the Slovak capital of Bratislava PDF Viera Baričičová, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Slovak Republic |
| 17.05 – 17.25 | Data and food loss policy options: the case of Belgium’s a national food loss and consumer behaviour survey PDF Guy Lambrechts, Department for Agriculture and Fisheries, Belgium |
| 17.25 – 17.45 | Circular economy and food waste/loss – how Swiss cantonal authorities work on measurement and solutions PDF Hans Musch, Canton Luzern, Office for Environment and Energy, Switzerland |
| 17.45 - 18.00 | Closing |