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FAO / FOOD WASTE
STORY: FAO / FOOD WASTE
TRT: 03:12
SOURCE: FAO/UNEP/
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 SEPTEMBER 2013, ROME ITALY- NAIROBI, KENYA / FILE
FILE – WORLD BANK, JUNE 2010, OUM AZZA, MOROCCO
1. Zoom out, truck dumping garbage
2. Med shot, sorting garbage in conveyer belt
3. Med shot, man sweeping garbage
4. Wide shot, waste being poured from truck to conveyer
RECENT 2013, FAO HEADQUARTERS, ROME, ITALY
4. Various shots, FAO Headquarters
11 SEPTEMBER 2013, ROME ITALY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
"The implications of this massive food waste for food security and sustainability is huge. If we reduce food loss and waste, we have more food available without the need to produce more, putting less pressure on natural resources."
FILE – WORLD BANK, 2012 – PLACE UNKNOWN
6. Med shot, waves crashing over coral
7. Various shots, gutting fish
FILE – UNICEF - 28 JULY TO 2 AUGUST 2013, OPUWO, KUNENE REGION
10. Wide shot, woman walking on dry field with horns of dead ok
11. Wide shot, person walking in the distance on dry land
11 SEPTEMBER 2013, ROME ITALY
SOUNDBITE (English) José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
"We now also have a better idea of the economic impact of that, food waste means 750 billion dollars, every year. This impressive figure is the equivalent of the GDP of Switzerland. And the number still excludes fish and seafood and the economic costs associated with the environmental and social impacts.”
FILE – IFAD - 9-15 AUGUST 2013, KOLLI HILLS, TAMIL NADU, INDIA
8. Various shots, farmer in millet field
9. Various shots, drying millet
10. Various shot, two men and a woman farming
FILE – FAO - RECENT 2012, VIET NAM
11. Various shots, forests
11 SEPTEMBER 2013, ROME ITALY- NAIROBI, KENYA
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
”The Food Wastage Footprint is also in a sense groundbreaking because for the first time we are looking at this phenomenon non only from a quantitative perspective in terms of the amount of food lost, within itself quite remarkable, but also the impact on natural resources if you want, the nexus between agriculture production and sustainability, the sustainable use of our natural resource base, be it soils, be it water resources, be it, in a sense, the fundamental support and ecosystems that allow us to grow food in the first place."
FILE – FAO - RECENT 2012, VIET NAM
13. Various shots, certified lumber in large stacks
14. Various shots, two men planting saplings
FILE – IFAD - 9-15 AUGUST 2013, KOLLI HILLS, TAMIL NADU, INDIA
15. Various shots, pouring millet into jars
11 SEPTEMBER 2013, ROME ITALY- NAIROBI, KENYA
SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“The assumption kind of assumptions underline this notion that we can simply increase food production by 60, 60, 70 percent, either high risk or are still in the realm of the desirable or the wishful thinking and what we are suggesting is that we have to rethink our food economy and the easiest is to begin by actually addressing what is clearly the lowest (hanging food) which is don’t loose what you have already produced.”
FILE – WORLD BANK, JUNE 2010, OUM AZZA, MOROCCO
1. Zoom out, truck dumping garbage
3. Med shot, sorting garbage in conveyer belt
A new FAO report says that the waste of a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year is not only causing major economic losses but also wreaking significant harm on the natural resources that humanity relies upon to feed itself.
“Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources” is the first study to analyze the impacts of global food wastage from an environmental perspective, looking specifically at its consequences for the climate, water and land use, and biodiversity.
Among its key findings: Each year, food that is produced but not eaten guzzles up a volume of water equivalent to the annual flow of Russia's Volga River and is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet's atmosphere.
Launching the report today (11 September), the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva said called the implications of food waste for food security and sustainability “huge” and said if food loss and waste were reduced, there would be more food available “without the need to produce more, putting less pressure on natural resources."
And beyond its environmental impacts, the direct economic consequences to producers of food wastage (excluding fish and seafood) run to the tune of $750 billion annually. Da Silva equated the figure to the GDP of Switzerland.
As a companion to its new study, FAO has also published a comprehensive "tool-kit" that contains recommendations on how food loss and waste can be reduced at every stage of the food chain.
Executive Director Achim Steiner from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said that UNEP and FAO have identified food waste and loss --food wastage-- as a major opportunity for economies everywhere to assist in a transition towards a low carbon, resource efficient and inclusive Green Economy.
Steiner called the “Food Wastage Footprint” groundbreaking in that for the first time this phenomenon not only from a quantitative perspective in terms of the amount of food lost, within itself quite remarkable, but also the impact on natural resources if you want, the nexus between agriculture production and sustainability, the sustainable use of our natural resourse base, be it soils, be it water resources, be it, in a sense, the fundamental support and ecosystems that allow us to grow food in the first place."
The report by FAO underlines the multiple benefits that can be realized-- in many cases through simple and thoughtful measures by for example households, retailers, restaurants, schools and businesses-- that can contribute to environmental sustainability, economic improvements, food security and the realization of the UN Secretary General's Zero Hunger Challenge. We would urge everyone to adopt the motto of our joint campaign: Think Eat Save - Reduce Your Foodprint!".
Forty-six percent of it happens "downstream," at the processing, distribution and consumption stages. As a general trend, developing countries suffer more food losses during agricultural production, while food waste at the retail and consumer level tends to be higher in middle- and high-income regions -- where it accounts for 31-39 percent of total wastage -- than in low-income regions (4-16 percent). The later a food product is lost along the chain, the greater the environmental consequences, FAO's report notes, since the environmental costs incurred during processing, transport, storage and cooking must be added to the initial production costs.
Wastage of cereals in Asia is a significant problem, with major impacts on carbon emissions and water and land use. Rice's profile is particularly noticeable, given its high methane emissions combined with a large level of wastage.
While meat wastage volumes in all world regions is comparatively low, the meat sector generates a substantial impact on the environment in terms of land occupation and carbon footprint, especially in high-income countries and Latin America, which in combination account for 80 percent of all meat wastage.
Steiner said that “The assumption kind of assumptions underline this notion that we can simply increase food production by 60, 60, 70 percent, either high risk or are still in the realm of the desirable or the wishful thinking and what we are suggesting is that we have to rethink our food economy."
Excluding Latin America, high-income regions are responsible for about 67 percent of all meat wastage Fruit wastage contributes significantly to water waste in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, mainly as a result of extremely high wastage levels. Similarly, large volumes of vegetable wastage in industrialized Asia, Europe, and South and South East Asia translates into a large carbon footprint for that sector.
Causes of food wastage - and options for addressing them A combination of consumer behaviour and lack of communication in the supply chain underlies the higher levels of food waste in affluent societies, according to FAO. Consumers fail to plan their shopping, over purchase, or over-react to "best-before-dates," while quality and aesthetic standards lead retailers to reject large amounts of perfectly edible food.
“The assumption kind of assumptions underline this notion that we can simply increase food production by 60, 60, 70 percent, either high risk or are still in the realm of the desirable or the wishful thinking and what we are suggesting is that we have to rethink our food economy
In developing countries, significant post-harvest losses in the early part of the supply chain are a key problem, occurring as a result of financial and structural limitations in harvesting techniques and storage and transport infrastructure, combined with climatic conditions favorable to food spoilage.
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