FAO Digital Media Hub - International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

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International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

27 September 2024, Video Message by Dr. QU Dongyu, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

Language English

Duration 4m21s

Edit Version Full Mix

Video Type Video Message

Date 09/27/2024 12:52 PM

File size 472.09 MB

Unique ID UF17ML1

Production details and shotlist

Script Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Welcome to the 5th observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
2. Today we live on a planet with a growing scarcity of natural resources, and we are increasingly faced with the harsh reality of the impacts of the climate crisis.
3. This challenges us to do more and better to build more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems for a more food-secure future.
4. The transformation of global agrifood systems supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and requires the achievement of the SDGs, including SDG12, which sets out a global commitment to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
5. SDG12 calls for halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
6. Food loss and waste accounts for an estimated 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and leads to methane hotspots when food ends up in landfills.
7. By reducing food loss and waste, countries and communities can benefit from improved food security, access to healthy diets, and reduced malnutrition, while also decreasing their greenhouse gas footprints.
8. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook Report for the period 2024-2033 projects that by halving food loss and waste we can reduce global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 4%, and the number of undernourished people by 153 million by the year 2030.
9. However, the world is not on track to achieve SDG 12 – nor any of the other SDGs - by 2030.
10. We need to intensify our efforts, including by significantly increasing climate investments for the development of climate resilient crop varieties, and to re-design and up-scale improved storage systems to reduce food losses upstream in the supply chain, particularly in low-income economies.
11. Awareness raising and consumer education is also critical at the household level, with implementation at the global level.
12. And we need to shift to a circular economy that fosters collaboration among partners, and innovation across the food value chain.
13. FAO is actively supporting Members and working with partners globally to pilot and scale up sustainable practices to measurably reduce food losses and waste, with a strong emphasis on preventing and reducing food loss and waste at source.
14. Innovations such as the FAO Food Loss App launched in 2023, help to accelerate the pace of quantifying the impacts of food losses at the micro level, and to facilitate and inform collective efforts toward achieving net zero.

Dear Colleagues,
15. Reducing food loss and waste is crucial for improving food security, promoting the efficient use of resources, protecting the environment, and fostering a more equitable distribution of food resources globally.
16. FAO is committed to working closely with all partners for the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind.
17. Thank you.

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