Food loss and waste ‘an ethical outrage’, UN chief says on International Day

Author:
UN News

Last year, the UN General Assembly designated 29 September as the International Day, recognizing the fundamental role that sustainable food production plays in promoting food security and nutrition and highlighting the essential need to reduce food loss and waste.

In addition, with the COVID-19 pandemic underlining the fragility of food systems, and worsening food loss and waste in many countries, Secretary-General António Guterres called for “new approaches and solutions” to solve the challenges.

“Food loss and waste is an ethical outrage. In a world with enough food to feed all people, everywhere, 690 million people continue to go hungry and 3 billion cannot afford a healthy diet,” he said.

Squandering natural resources
“Food loss and waste also squanders natural resources – water, soil and energy, not to mention human labour and time. It worsens climate change, given the significant role of agriculture in generating greenhouse gas emissions,” added Mr. Guterres.

The article's full-text is available here.

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