Sustainable Food Production is Essential for a Healthy Planet – Global Issues
United Nations, Oct 17 (IPS) – Food waste has been a concern of environmentalists and humanitarians for decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that nearly one-third of all food produced worldwide ends up in landfills, equivalent to 1.3 billion metric tons. In contrast, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), nearly three billion people do not have access to nutritious or sufficient food to maintain a healthy diet. Additionally, food waste has been a leading cause of environmental degradation since the industrial revolution, with food in landfills releasing millions of metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere every year.
According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), about 60 percent of food waste in the world comes from households, amounting to 631 million tons. The World Resources Institute estimates that food waste costs the global economy more than a trillion dollars a year. These numbers are expected to double by 2050.
Food waste is a global problem among high-income, high-income, and low-income countries, with different average levels of household food waste. However, most of the world’s food waste comes from powerful economies and populous countries, such as the United States, India, and China. High levels of food waste have also been linked to countries experiencing warmer climates, with hotter temperatures contributing to a greater reduction in shelf life.
UNEP’s Food Waste Index 2024 REPORT states that the average person wastes about 79 kilograms of food per year, which is equivalent to 1.3 meals per day for everyone in the world. Overconsumption fuels rising food prices, making access to food even more difficult for disadvantaged communities and developing countries. Reducing global food waste is critical to ensuring global food security.
“The paradox we are living in is that we have produced all-time records of food in recent years amid an intolerable level of world hunger. The consumption of non-food items is huge and growing rapidly”, said Anuradha Mittal, founder. and executive director of the Oakland Institute.
In June 2024, the World Food Program (WFP) said, “Currently, the world produces enough food to feed every child, woman and man in the world. All the food produced but never eaten will be enough to feed two billion people. That is more than twice the number of undernourished people.” all around the world. ”
Food waste is also an important sustainability issue as large amounts of valuable resources, such as fossil fuels, water, agriculture, and electricity, are wasted in food production that end up in landfills. About one-third of the world’s arable land is used for agriculture. In addition, food production accounts for 66 percent of the world’s water use, and a typical daily human food consumption costs 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce.
According to UNEP experts, food waste contributes to about ten percent of all greenhouse gases, which is five times the total emitted by the aviation industry. The United States’ National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) adds that north of 23 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture. Agricultural exploitation, including deforestation and excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, is a leading cause of biodiversity loss and habitat destruction.
Meat production has a huge impact on the health of the entire planet. NCBI states, “Livestock production has a negative impact not only on carbon emissions, but also on water bodies, water pollution, and water scarcity”. Livestock and meat production industries contribute at least 18 percent of all greenhouse gases. Estimates from the Water Footprint Calculator report that it takes more than 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.
Livestock food production, like human food production, can have disastrous effects on the environment. Mittal told IPS that animal feed includes food grown from residues from industrial-based agriculture, or land taken from local and indigenous communities, resulting from the destruction of forests, water and biodiversity. “This comes at a very high cost to humanity,” he said.
“This comes at a very high price for humanity. Food grown with fossil-fuel based intensive industrial agriculture, on land taken from Indigenous communities and in the area, through the destruction of forests, water, and biodiversity, is used as animal feed,” Mittal. he told IPS.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that approximately 26 percent of all meat products sold are wasted. Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands estimate that approximately 18 billion pigs, chickens, turkeys, cows, goats and sheep are wasted at the production or packaging stage, before reaching consumers. This study does not include the seafood industry. According to the World Economic Forum, about 15 percent of all seafood is wasted every year. About one-third of the loss of marine life comes from processing on land.
Countries around the world are in the process of adopting cleaner practices when it comes to food production and consumption. In recent years, Denmark has been hailed as a “champion” among European countries for reducing food waste. From 2011 to 2017, the Danish government launched the “Stop Food Waste” campaign, to promote capillary retailing habits and consumer habits that don’t over-consume, which ultimately reduced food waste by 25 percent. “Stop Wasting Food” has recovered more than 300 tons of leftover food since it started working.
“The United Kingdom is the only country with a two-day labeling system, which provides both the best in time and the safest to date. France has banned waste in grocery stores, requiring that food that is still completely fit for consumption be served. The United States has recently announced a national strategy to reduce the amount of food sent to landfills, putting in place ways to divert leftover food and using sustainable waste management practices,” said Danielle Nierenberg, president of the Food Tank.
According to WFP, about 9.4 percent of all children in China face stunted growth due to food insecurity. As China’s population continues to grow, food insecurity and carbon emissions have become a major concern for officials. China has announced an accelerated program in cooperation with the Central Economic Forum to adopt cleaner production methods and their use.
UNEP aims to halve global food waste levels by 2030 by providing countries with guidance on safer food production practices in the Food Waste Index. Governments around the world are embracing public-private partnerships in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of food production and procurement. In addition, the European Union (EU) launched the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’, an initiative that provides advice and financial support to industries as they make changes to sustainable practices.
“Addressing this problem, a global agreement to stop the spread of industrial meat production to stop the seemingly endless increase in agricultural production that can be used for food, is the first step,” said Mittal.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
