Addressing Food Loss and Waste : A Global Problem with Local Solutions
Gautam Sethi, L. P. A. Bedregal, Emilie Cassou, Luís Constantino, Xiyong Hou, Sapna Jain, F. Messent, Xenia Zia Morales, Ibrahim Mostafa, Jeamarie Pascual, F. M. de Preneuf, Dipti Thapa, R. Q. Trinidad, R. Yndriago, F. Youssefi, Harry de Gorter, Dušan Drábik, C. Korting, Richard Swannell, Mary Gover, Christian Reynolds, Maurice Hall, Tom Quested, Andrew D. Parry, Claire Kneller
Abstract
The report focuses on the role that food loss and waste (FLW) could play in reducing the environmental footprint of food systems while attempting to meet the caloric and nutrient needs of a population expected to increase by 3 billion people in the next 30 years. The performance of the global food system over the last century has been extraordinary. From a global population of 1.6 billion people in 1900 to nearly 8 billion in 2020, the agri-food sector has risen to the challenge of providing global caloric sufficiency, mainly by increasing yields of a few principal staple crops. However, this path is no longer sustainable.