The video illuminates the environmental cost of food waste and presents a comprehensive overview of the negative effects of wasting food. A tremendous amount of water can be saved by reducing losses and waste of food. By curbing food waste, energy is saved and the emission of greenhouse gases can be reduced. Equally important, consumers can save a great deal of money by not letting their food go to waste.

The video will be screened during the UNEP Side Event “The Global Environmental Impact of Food Waste”. Read more on the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit website.

Watch the video directly

Watch the video in different languages

• German
• Spanish
• French
• Chinese
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To further highlight this issue, a group of international thought-leaders joined the producer, SIWI and FAO in their call for action to cut waste in a joint op-ed, published on National Geographic:

FOOD WASTE – MORTGAGING OUR WATER FUTURE

No child to bed hungry

At the first World Food Conference, in Rome in 1974, Mr. Henry Kissinger made a laudable pledge, “In ten years’ time no child will go to bed hungry”. There was reason for optimism. For years, global food production increased faster than rate of population growth.  The number of people suffering from undernourishment was gradually pushed back. Widespread use of high yielding varieties of seeds, massive investments in irrigation and other arrangements for increased production contributed to tangible returns for farmers as well as for consumers. For about two decades, the green revolution meant a boost to food security and livelihoods for hundreds of millions, primarily in Asia. Still, by the mid-1990s about half a billion was reported as undernourished. From then on, the number of people going to bed hungry started to increase, again.

Big surplus of food

Paradoxically, statistical information continued to show positive figures on food production and the amounts of food available on the market. Awesome figures on increasing numbers of people who are food insecure are related to poverty. Most of the bottom one billion has limited access to the food produced. For lack of money and bargaining power, they also lack access to other basic goods and services e.g. water.

This deplorable situation is remarkable in view of the fact that an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food produced is lost and wasted, corresponding to about 170 – 180 kilos per capita, year or about a third of what is produced. Overeating provides an equally uncomfortable comparison; 1.5 billion people over age 20 are overweight and obese.

But we are not just talking about food. We are talking about THE major use of water and especially the misuse of it. On average, it takes a liter of water for each kilocalorie raised. The daily diet of a poor person, which may be in the order of 1,800 to 2,000 kcal, costs in the order of one or two tons of water, while the amount of food that the rich people demand could take five tons and more.  It’s thus not just about wasting food that people need, it’s about alleviating the shortage of water and make more worthwhile uses of a limited and highly variable resource possible.

High and multiple costs for limited gain

There is thus no shortage of food but rather a surplus. Naturally, it is essential to produce enough of food for a growing and increasingly wealthy population. But if a large chunk of the produce is lost, spoiled, discarded or in other ways misused, it makes sense to broaden the perspective and identify strategies that link production and sustainable diets for a growing population.

Purely in economic terms, the value of losses and waste is estimated at about £160 billion ($250 billion or 200 billion Euros). What company with an ambition to stay in business could accept production losses of the order of one third? It is simply not sensible to throw away every third or fourth item of products that have required so much effort and resources to produce. Why should consumers and decision makers accept it? While poor households spend a significant part of their disposable income on food, expenditure on food in rich countries is currently in the order of 10 – 15% of the household budget. But spending in shops is only one of the budget items. We also pay through our tax bills. Out of the EU’s total budget of slightly less than 150 billion Euros (~ £118 billion or $187 billion) about 40% is used for agricultural policy. Subsidies, which are part of this policy tend to stimulate production irrespective of regional and global food security considerations. It is mindboggling that a conservative estimate of the economic value of the global food waste is higher than EU’s total budget and almost double the total global development assistance.

Although the economic figures are staggering, the unnecessary high toll on natural resources and environmental implications are more worrisome. All food produced has consumed water, occupied land, contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and had other environmental impacts. These are real costs that may soon prove to be unacceptable since they erode the prospects for a sound and livable future for a large part of the world’s burgeoning population.

A multiple win option at reasonable cost

It’s time for a novel and much more pragmatic approach. What if we focused on what can be achieved, NOT ONLY by producing and supplying more but by making better use of what is available? If losses and waste of food are reduced by half, the potential water savings only from irrigation would be in the order of 450 cubic kilometers globally. That is equivalent to six times the annual flow of Nile water into Lake Nasser or more than half the amount of water used by the industrial sector globally. This precious water could be better used to support aquatic and other environmental functions and also used to satisfy other urgent needs in society. True, reduction in losses will require investments in transport, storage and improved market access, especially for small producers in poorer countries.  But to not invest is also costly. The difficulties for farmers in poor areas in moving their produce to more distant markets due to a lack of safe storage and transport facilities are particularly detrimental and imply missed opportunities when they produce bumper harvests. Temporary surplus will often be lost due to pests, mold and other vagaries of nature. For the small producer to bring the surplus from a benign year to the local market only means price collapse.

The challenge is quite different in the rich parts of the world where waste at the end of the supply chain is a relatively bigger problem. Consumers play a major role in this regard but blame cannot be put on one party but rather on the interplay between farmers, consumers and food industry, retailers, restaurants and other food outlets. In the end, the burdens of the misuse of resources and the food produced are carried by the public.  And we are all consumers.

Go ahead with good old pledges!

The level of global food waste and the associated consequences have reached absurd proportions. It is time to renew good old pledges. When the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, was established in 1945, it had reduction of food losses within its mandate. At the first World Food Conference, in 1974, reduction of post-harvest losses by 15% was suggested and it was agreed to bring about a 50% reduction by 1985. For various reasons the pledges have been silently disregarded and ignored.

Future starts now!

The good news is that several important actors are currently lining up in efforts to promote a resource saving society together with proper nourishment for a growing world population.

Recent initiatives are promising. For instance, reduction of food losses is an important item on FAO’s agenda.  In January 2012, a resolution was passed in the EU Parliament calling upon the EU members to halve food waste by 2025 and to take measures that would prevent the generation of such waste, for instance, through the reform of date labeling. Corporate sector initiatives are welcome.

The roadmap to a reduction of food losses and waste include: investments in storage for farmers, on site processing of food, improved roads and fair market access, better packaging, negotiations and awareness raising about real cost and real value of water and food, and not least, responsible consumer behavior in a world of finite and highly variable resources.

Reducing losses and waste of food, and thus water and other resources, requires joint and coordinated actions across the supply chain, from producers to the beneficial use of the produce and in dialogue with policy makers. The future of our children and grandchildren will be different to the past and contemporary situation. In a generation, some nine billion people will be living in a world with immense opportunities but also in a world where natural resource constraints and environmental dynamics more and more affect individuals and society. One of the most tangible consequences of global warming is that the availability of water will be increasingly variable while also demand for it will increase. A prodigious waste of food is simply not a sensible option in a desirable future.

Signed by:

• Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, Board of Governors, the Indian Council for Research on  International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
• Margret Catley-Carlson, UN Secretary General Adviser and  Patron of the Global Water Partnership
• Junguo Liu, Professor School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University
• Jan Lundqvist, professor, senior scientific advisor, SIWI
• Alexander Mueller, Assistant Director-General, FAO
• Julian Parfitt, Dr Principle Resource Analyst, Oakdene Hollins
• Brad Ridoutt, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship
• Andrea Segré, Professor of International Agricultural Policy; Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bologna; President, Last Minute Market
• Valentin Thurn, filmmaker, author SCHNITTSTELLE – THURN GbR, Germany
• Mohamed Ait Kadi, President of the General Council of Agricultural Development, Morocco
• Chairing the Technical Committee at the Global Water Partnership.

Over two thousand politicians, CEOs, scientists and leaders of international organisations from more than 100 nations are gathering in Stockholm, Sweden, for the annual World Water Week, which this year focuses on “Water and Food Security”.

Today, over 900 million people suffer from hunger, and two billion more face serious health risks from undernourishment. At the same time, 1.5 billion people overeat and over one-third of all food is lost or wasted. Demand for food and fibre is projected to increase by 70 per cent by mid-century and, without intervention, untenable pressure on water resources in many regions in the world will threaten food and water security.

“More than one-fourth of all the water we use worldwide is taken to grow over one billion tons of food that nobody eats. That water, together with the billions of dollars spent to grow, ship, package and purchase the food, is sent down the drain.” said Mr. Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

“Reducing the waste of food is the smartest and most direct route to relieve pressure on water and land resources. It’s an opportunity we cannot afford to overlook,” he added.

In the over 100 sessions set to take place throughout the week, the convening experts will debate and showcase solutions to ensure that the planets limited water resources can meet the needs of growing economies and support a healthy global population. They will also discuss the latest innovations and successful practices to provide clean water and safe sanitation to the over two billion people who live without sustainable access to these basic services. Half of the cases of malnutrition worldwide result from illness and infection from dirty water or unhygienic sanitation.

Participants at the week will also deliberate on issues countries leasing foreign land for agricultural production, trade, human rights, climate change, and the inter-linkages between food, water and energy production. The International Water Resource Economics Consortium (IWREC) will host a Chief Economist Panel debate on how to use economic policy instruments to manage water more efficiently.

“The numbers show that agriculture is a thirsty activity. But that also means that agriculture holds the key to sustainable water use,” said Mr. José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He added that investment in smallholder farmers is critical to achieve food and water security for all people.

“Throughout the world, 2.6 billion small-scale producers till the land, raise animals and fish. They are the main providers of food in the developing world. If we want them to produce more sustainably, preserving natural resources, adapting to and contributing to the mitigation of climate change, we need to help them. We cannot expect them to do it alone.”

Also speaking at the opening session, Dr. Colin Chartres, Director-General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the 2012 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, said: “Feeding over 9 billion people by 2050 is possible, but we have to reflect on the cost to the environment in terms of water withdrawals and land resources. Furthermore it will put phenomenal pressure on ecosystem services on which our society depends. Saving water by reducing food waste, increasing productivity, plant breeding and waste water recycling are critical to all of us.”

During the week, H.M. King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden will present the Stockholm Water Prize to the International Water Management Institute, IWMI, for their work to improve agriculture water management, enhance food security, protect environmental health and alleviate poverty in developing countries. Other prizes that will be presented during the week are the Stockholm Junior Water Prize – which is given to one national team from 27 competing nations, and the Stockholm Industry Water Award, which will be presented this year to PepsiCo for their efforts to reduce water consumption in their operations and to help solve water challenges on a broad scale.

About the World Water Week in Stockholm

The World Water Week in Stockholm is the annual meeting place for the planet’s most urgent water-related issues. Organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), it brings together thousands of experts, practitioners, decision makers and business innovators from around the globe to exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions, please visit  www.worldwaterweek.org

About Stockholm International Water Institute

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a policy institute that generates knowledge and informs decision-making towards water wise policy and sustainable development. SIWI performs research, builds institutional capacity and provides advisory services in five thematic areas: water governance, transboundary water management, water and climate change, the water-energy-food nexus, and water economics. SIWI organises the World Water Week in Stockholm and hosts the Stockholm Water Prize, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and the Stockholm Industry Water Award.

Authored by a dozen experts from SIWI, the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the report provides new evidence that shows how continuing current trends in food production could lead to increased shortages and intense competition for scarce water resources in many regions across the world.

The report notes that 900 million people are hungry and two billion more people are under nourished in spite of the fact that per capita production continues to increase. With 70 per cent of all water withdrawals used in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land.

“Feeding everyone well is a primary challenge for this century. Overeating, undernourishment and waste are all on the rise and increased food production may face future constraints from water scarcity,” said report editor Dr. Anders Jägerskog. “We will need a new recipe to feed the world in the future.”

The authors spotlight a number of essential and largely overlooked challenges where dedicated action can help ensure food security to a growing global population with available water resources. These include improvements in on-farm water efficiency, reductions in losses and waste in the food supply chain, enhanced response networks to early warning systems for agricultural emergencies, and increased investment to close the gender gap in agricultural production. The report also investigates the impact of the recent surge in foreign direct investment to lease land in developing countries on local and regional water resources, a phenomenon that requires more stringent regulation to ensure that the water and land rights of local farming communities are upheld.

Download it here.