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Book (stand-alone)Regional Strategic Framework Reducing Food Losses and Waste in the Near East & North Africa Region 2015Food losses and waste (FL&W) in the Near East & North Africa (NENA) region are high and contribute to reduced food availability, aggravated water scarcity, adverse environmental impacts and increased food imports, in an already highly import-dependent region. This document outlines a Regional Strategic Framework for reducing food losses and waste in the region. It responds to the FAO NERC-31 (in May 2012) recommendation calling on FAO to “assist member countries in addressing the key challenges of reducing food waste and losses by conducting comprehensive studies on impact of food losses and waste on food security in the region and in establishing a plan to reduce food losses and waste in the region by 50% within 10 years”. The components of the strategic framework are based on the region’s socio-economic context, gaps in combating FL&W, and availability of resources.
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ArticleThe environmental impact of reducing food loss and waste: A critical assessment 2021
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No results found.This paper examines the rationale for pursuing environmental objectives by reducing food loss and waste (FLW). The main thrust of the literature on this issue is that FLW reduction can make a major contribution to making food systems more sustainable. Using a stylized analytical framework, we find that reducing FLW always improves resource use efficiency for land and water, and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted per unit of food consumed. However, whether the actual environmental outcome is improved will depend on where environmental damage and FLW reduction occur, and the way price transmission connects these along the food supply chain. We find that, while a food waste reduction at the consumer level always improves the environmental outcome, this is not guaranteed when reducing losses from farm to retail. We thus derive a condition linking the price transmission mechanism and the environmental impact of a loss reduction. Simulating environmental outcomes based on a range of parameter values found in the literature, we find that reducing losses at or close to the farm level can increase the aggregate amount of GHG emissions, and therefore focusing on reducing consumer waste is more effective in reducing emissions. As for reducing natural resource use, both loss and waste reductions reduce the amount of land and water use, but effectiveness is reduced by heterogeneity in environmental impact. Relative to loss reductions, effectiveness of a waste reduction is amplified if there are environmentally damaging losses upstream in the value chain, but also dampened by vertical heterogeneity of sourcing along a value chain. The paper makes the case that more targeted instruments may be better suited to address typically local water scarcity and land use and degradation issues. -
Book (stand-alone)Reducing food loss and waste in the Near East and North Africa
Producers, intermediaries and consumers as key decision-makers
2023Also available in:
No results found.Food loss and waste (FLW) reduction is an important component in the transformation of the region’s agrifood systems. Addressing the drivers of FLW along value chains provides an opportunity to tackle some of the inherent problems within the NENA region agrifood systems and to contribute to goals such as: boosting incomes and employment, improving access to nutritious food, reducing the climate footprint, and improving the use of scarce natural resources, particularly arable land and water.
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