January 22, 2016, Davos, Switzerland – I am honored to be part of the Champions Coalition in support of the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which seeks to halve per capita food waste and reduce food losses by 2030. Today, about a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted on its way from the farm to the table, resulting in huge costs to society and the environment, including about US$940 billion a year in economic losses. For this reason, it is critical that we succeed in reaching the goals laid out in SDG 12.3.
In support of this goal, we have partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to launch a Technical Platform to measure food loss and waste. The platform is designed to ensure knowledge sharing and in-depth discussion among stakeholders to take concrete steps toward meeting this global challenge.
IFPRI is committed to identifying the origins and costs of food loss and waste across the value chain to promote effective interventions and set priorities for actions—this is directly aligned with IFPRI’s strategic research areas of ensuring sustainable production and improving markets and trade. We are dedicated to collaborating with our partners to ensure the success of this initiative.
We must coordinate global efforts to reduce food loss and waste and enhance our ability to eliminate global hunger and undernutrition.
For more information, or if you would like to speak to Dr. Fan, please contact Deborah Horan at d.horan@cgiar.org, or 202 627-4310, or Daniel Burnett at d.burnett@cgiar.org or 202 627-4311.
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The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. www.ifpri.org.