Lima – The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today called for a radical transformation in how we produce, process, trade, and consume food, as he discussed reducing food loss and waste and securing clean energy for agrifood systems at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima.
FAO’s Director-General was invited to address an APEC Ministerial Session on Sustainable Growth for a Resilient Development in the Peruvian capital.
Asked how best to improve efforts to reduce food loss and waste in the Asia Pacific region, Qu noted that the global value of food lost between harvest and retail amounts to $400 billion, and that 1.4 billion hectares of cropland and pasture area, as well as 250 cubic kilometres of water, are used for growing food that is eventually lost and wasted. Meanwhile, 18.1 percent of the population cannot afford healthy diets.
The Director-General said that to fix this problem, we need to target specific loss hotspots and use innovation, technology, and investment, including in data collection.
In this regard, FAO has developed tools such as the FAO Food Loss Index and the FAO Food Loss App, examples of knowledge for action and targeted results.
“The need to reduce food loss and waste is higher than before and a necessary condition to tackle current and future challenges, and to achieve the Four Betters,” Qu said.
“It will help deliver a better environment, by saving natural resources; better nutrition, by improving the access to healthy, but perishable products; and a better life, by improving the income of food producers,” the Director-General said. Adding that “to fix this problem, we need to take action to deliver better production all along the value chains”.
A just energy transition
The meeting also discussed how best to guarantee a just energy transition for all sectors of societies. According to FAO, we need to prepare for feeding a global population of almost 10 billion by 2050, while adapting to climate change and not exceeding the 1.5 degrees threshold of global warming.
Producing enough food for the world—from the producer to the consumer—uses about 30 percent of all energy, and energy use results in over a third of greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems.
Clean energy
Discussions turned to the need to scale up the benefits of promising energy sources, such as clean and low-carbon hydrogen, in the region.
One-third of the world’s food is lost or wasted annually, along with the related energy used in the sector and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, the lack of effective refrigeration systems directly results in the loss of 526 million tons of food production, or 12 percent of the global total. In a world where the number of hungry people is rising, we cannot permit the loss of tonnes of edible food.
FAO’s proposed solutions start by acknowledging that annual clean energy investments worldwide will need to triple by 2030 to reach $4 trillion if we want to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Solutions also need to be better integrated and prioritised within national policies and National Determined Contributions. Farmers need to be supported if we are to implement innovative, green energy solutions. And there must be a just energy transition in the agrifood sector to ensure equal access to the energy services and technologies required.
Over the last twenty years, FAO has been facilitating access to sustainable modern energy, working closely with governments and partners. This is fundamental for the transformation of agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable to achieve the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
