Representatives of the Labor Party and the Australian Greens have welcomed an invitation by Australian Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to join a dialogue on establishing a National Food Waste 2025 Strategy, providing cross-party support for a key environmental issue.
The declaration came during a Think.Eat.Save event organized at the Parliament House in Canberra by an Australian non-profit, OZHarvest and the UN Information Centre (UNIC) Canberra on the occasion of World Environment Day (WED). Speaking at the event, Minister Hunt announced that Australian companies will be able to bid for funds to recover food waste as part of the federal government's carbon emissions reduction plan.
OZHarvest is a key Australian partner for the Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint Initiative - a joint campaign of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aimed at reducing global food waste. Welcoming the Minister's announcement, the CEO of OZHarvest, Ms. Ronnie Kahn said that despite the organization's efforts of saving twelve million kilogrammes of surplus food in the last decade, Australia still wastes AUD 8-10 billion of good food each year.
Also speaking at the event, the Opposition Environment Spokesperson Mr. Mark Butler thanked the Minister for the opportunity to participate in the initiative and supported the government's proposal on behalf of the Labor party.
The Deputy Leader of the Greens, Ms. Larissa Waters also endorsed the Minister's announcement, adding that there is a need to explore changes in the cosmetic standards of supermarkets. She explained that "ugly food" is also edible and changes are possible that could help to alleviate food waste, landfill and carbon emissions.
Mr. Christopher Woodthorpe, Director of the United Nations Information Center, welcomed the support for the prevention of food waste in Australia. He highlighted the global challenges of food waste and loss, and their direct links to climate change and the sustainable development goals.
According to a 2013 FAO study, at least a third of all food produced on the planet - approximately 1.3 billion tonnes annually - is lost or wasted, representing an ethical, economic and environmental issue. Consumers in high-income countries, such as Australia, waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes). Each year, food that is produced but not eaten is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet's atmosphere.
Think.Eat.Save increases awareness of this colossal waste and catalyzes action to prevent it among all sectors of society.
To give an example of how to prevent food waste, attendants of the Canberra Think.Eat.Save event were treated to a delicious meal created by chefs from Parliament House and OZHarvest from food that would have ordinarily been thrown out.
Thursday's event was organized to mark the 2015 World Environment Day (WED), held under the slogan 'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care', focusing on the theme of sustainable consumption of natural resources, particularly those related to food.
About Think.Eat.Save
The Think.Eat.Save campaign of the Save Food Initiative, is a partnership between UNEP, FAO and Messe Düsseldorf, and in support of the UN Secretary-General's Zero Hunger Challenge, which seeks to add its authority and voice to these efforts in order to galvanize widespread global, regional and national actions, catalyze more sectors of society to be aware and to act, including through exchange of inspiring ideas and projects between those players already involved and new ones that are likely to come on board.
About WED 2015
World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nations' campaign for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years it has grown to be a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders in over 100 countries. It also serves as the people's day for doing something positive for the environment, inspiring individual actions and galvanizing them into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet. WED celebrations culminate on 5th June every year. This year's theme 'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care', encourages people to rethink their lifestyles and, through conscious consumer decisions, decrease humanity's collective impact on nature's resources. The global host of WED this year is Italy and the main celebrations will take place in Milan, at the Expo Milano 2015. More planned activities are available on the WED website - unep.org/wed.
