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“Cities must play key role in addressing food waste,” states FAO chief
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Tuesday, 24 October, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Valencia
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Cities can, and should, play a crucial role in the radical change needed to address the problem of hunger, malnutrition and food waste. This was stated by José Graziano da Silva, director general, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), to the mayors and representatives of over 150 cities from around the world who gathered at the third mayor’s meeting of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which took place in the Spanish city of Valencia.
“Local actions are critical to achieving the goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition, guaranteeing more sustainable food systems which are also more resilient to the effects of climate change, and ensuring a healthy and nutritious diet for all,” he added at the gathering, which was attended by representatives of such cities as Mexico City, Barcelona, Kyoto and Quito, and was a commitment aimed at combating hunger and food waste and improving nutrition.
While the inaugural meeting of mayors of cities of the Pact was held in Milan in 2015, the second took place at the United Nations (UN) agency’s headquarters in Rome last year. Mayors Joan Ribó of Valencia and Giuseppe Sala of Milan also participated in the opening ceremony.
Graziano da Silva noted that after steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger has recently risen again, affecting 815 million people – or 11 per cent of the world’s population. “The increase of 38 million people from a year earlier was largely attributable to the proliferation of civil conflicts and climate-related shocks,” stated the 2017 edition of the report titled The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
At the same time, he pointed out that multiple forms of malnutrition - overweight, obesity or micronutrient deficiencies threatened the health of millions of people around the world. “Fortunately cities are taking action and rising up to the challenge,” Graziano da Silva said, adding that high levels of creativity could be achieved if partnerships were forged with local actors, civil society, the private sector, academia and producer organisations.
He used his own experience with the Zero Hunger Program in Brazil, which lifted 40 million people from poverty and hunger. “A key component of its success was the participation of cities, some as large as Belo Horizonte or Campinas,” he said, adding that their mayors launched popular restaurants that served balanced and nutritious food at low prices, and the cities privileged the purchase of locally-produced food, contributing to the strengthening of the local economy.
FAO’s support for the Pact implementation
Signatories to the Pact agreed to adhere to key principles, such as guaranteeing healthy food for all, promoting sustainable food systems, educating the public about healthy eating and reducing waste.
Graziano da Silva said FAO supported this initiative by helping to develop indicators to measure progress, with a methodological guide “developed in close collaboration with cities around the world to ensure that it is a useful tool,” and acting as a neutral forum for the exchange of successful experiences.
He called for stronger collaboration, emphasising that these initiatives were carried out together with the cities’ networks to take advantage of their respective strengths and create synergies and highlighted FAO’s efforts to promote dialogue between parliamentarians and the promotion of mutual learning programmes among farmers.
Graziano da Silva also referred to South-South and Triangular Cooperation, including FAO’s City to City Cooperation Mechanism, as important means to accelerate the pace of change and the transformation of food systems. He added that FAO supported local governments in their food systems assessments, in the development of urban food strategies and plans, and in the definition of their investment priorities to strengthen linkages with rural areas.
Aligning efforts with the UN’s New Urban Agenda
The FAO chief stressed the importance of fostering collaboration among cities around the world to achieve more sustainable urbanisation and to promote economic, political, social and cultural linkages between the urban and rural areas.
“We cannot accept the dichotomy between the rural and urban areas, which no longer exists,” he said, adding, “We have to adopt a territorial approach based on the integration of the rural with the urban. Only prosperous cities and dynamic rural areas can drive change towards the sustainable food systems we need to fight poverty and hunger.”
To that end, he called for the signatory cities of the Pact to align priorities with the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda, a road map for more sustainable and human-friendly cities approved in the Third UN Habitat Conference on Sustainable Urbanisation, held in Quito, Ecuador.
“The New Agenda makes a concrete call for better urban and territorial planning with a view to ending hunger and malnutrition,” said Graziano da Silva, adding that it also urged for greater coordination between food and energy policies, and those regarding water, health, transport and waste.
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