By the end of the century there could be an extra three
billion mouths to feed, a period in which substantial changes are anticipated
in the wealth, calorific intake and dietary preferences of people in developing
countries, at the same time as changing demographic trends in developed
countries will have implications for food production and security.
Such a projection presents mankind with wide ranging social,
economic, environmental and political issues that need to be addressed today to
ensure a sustainable future for all. One key issue is how to produce more food
in a world of finite resources.
Today, we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food
per annum. Yet due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation,
as well as market and consumer wastage, it is estimated that 30–50% (or 1.2–2
billion tonnes) of all food produced never reaches a human stomach.
Furthermore, this figure does not reflect the fact that
large amounts of land, energy, fertilisers and water have also been lost in the
production of foodstuffs which simply end up as waste. This level of wastage is
a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to overcome increasing pressures on
land, water and energy usage and succeed in the challenge of sustainably
meeting our future food demands.
In less-developed countries, such as those of sub-Saharan
Africa and South-East Asia, wastage tends to occur primarily at the
farmer-producer end of the supply chain. Inefficient harvesting, inadequate
local transportation and poor infrastructure mean that produce is frequently
handled inappropriately and stored under unsuitable farm site conditions.
As the development level of a country increases, so the food
loss problem generally moves further up the supply chain with deficiencies in
regional and national infrastructure having the largest impact.
In mature, fully developed countries such as the UK,
more-efficient farming practices and better transport, storage and processing
facilities ensure that a larger proportion of the food produced reaches markets
and consumers. However, characteristics associated with modern consumer culture
mean produce is often wasted through retail and customer behaviour.
Major supermarkets, in meeting consumer expectations, will
often reject entire crops of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables at the farm
because they do not meet exacting marketing standards for their physical
characteristics, such as size and appearance. Globally, retailers generate 1.6
million tonnes of food waste annually in this way.
Of the produce that does appear in the supermarket, commonly
used sales promotions frequently encourage customers to purchase excessive
quantities which, in the case of perishable foodstuffs, inevitably generates
wastage in the home. Overall between 30% and 50% of what has been bought in
developed countries is thrown away by the purchaser.
Recommendations for addressing food waste
Rising population combined with improved nutrition standards
and shifting dietary preferences will exert pressure for increases in global
food supply, with increasing pressure on finite resources of land, energy and
water. Yet the report highlights that engineers, scientists and
agriculturalists do have the knowledge, tools and systems that will assist in
achieving productivity increases and states that there is the potential to
provide 60–100% more food by simply eliminating losses, while simultaneously
freeing up land, energy and water resources for other uses.
The growth in the world’s population that is projected to
take place over the coming decades will present a great range of developmental
challenges, including for food security and environmental sustainability.
Governments should consider and implement as necessary the ways highlighted by
the report to addressing food waste, which must play a role in helping
meet the challenges of ensuring food security for the 9 billion world
population projected before 2050, which may exceed 10 billion by the end of the
century.
Developed countries must take drastic measures to overcome
the considerable waste at the market and consumer end of the food chain due to
retail and customer behaviour. Developing countries must be supported to
develop more efficient harvesting and local transport networks to address the
wastage occurring at the farmer-producer end of the supply chain. These
measures help to achieve food security and also advance environmental
sustainability, given the wasteful use of resources and unnecessary pressures
on the environment associated the production of foodstuffs which only go to
waste.
The vast majority of world population growth over coming
decades is projected to take place in developing countries, where food and
water shortages are most prevalent. Yet an estimated 222 million women in
developing countries want to avoid pregnancy but have an unmet need for modern
contraception. Urgent investment in voluntary family planning services that
respect and protect rights is required to address this vast unmet need, to
ensure that women are able to makes choices about their own fertility.
This strategy offers a proven and cost effective strategy
for slowing population growth and helping achieve other development goals, and
must be pursued alongside efforts to address unsustainable and inequitable
patterns of production and consumption, including in the current food
production and distribution systems.
The 2030 Agenda is based on the assumption that with
technological progress, resulting in enhanced efficiency, society will be able to
overcome this contradiction—a view that is popular in policy circles but not
well supported by science. The solution to this dilemma lies rather in a
restructuring of the economic and social arrangements that require endless
growth in consumption.
Only with such a transformation will it be possible to
reconcile objectives that under current arrangements seem to be in conflict.
The SDG 12 can help achieving a range of objectives across the 2030 Agenda,
but, as it is currently formulated, it is unlikely to inspire the kind of
transformation needed for achieving systems of sustainable consumption and
production.
One of the great values of the 2030 Agenda is that it
creates forums at various levels of society for dialogue on what kind of
development is desirable and how society can make this happen. The scientific
community has a critical role to play in these processes and we hope that many
researchers will be actively engaged. Such involvement in public discourse is
especially important in the current era of growing disregard for truth and
reason.
To improve well-being everywhere, we need to find ways of
using resources efficiently, generating less and enabling a more equitable
standard of living worldwide. More than the other Goals, sustainable
consumption and production patterns require changes in society and culture --
changes in how we think.
We all need to encourage the redesign of resource life
cycles so that all materials are reused, with no waste left to be sent to
landfills. Zero-waste strategy is all about creating a low-carbon, resource
efficient, resilient and socially inclusive economy that respects the diversity
of ecosystems and promotes biodiversity, which is reflected in all seventeen of
the Sustainable Development Goals.
Governments should address food waste, and play a role in
helping meet the challenges of ensuring food security for the 9 billion world
population projected before 2050, which may exceed 10 billion by the end of the
century. It’s time to refocus our global efforts on ending the cycle of
hunger and poverty once and for all #ZeroWaste #SustainableConsumption #SDG12
#SustainableProduction #ZeroHunger #FoodSecurity #sdg2
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