More than 820 million people worldwide are starving or food insecure, while food waste results in environmental costs of 700 billion dollars and social expenses of 900 billion, according to WWF.
“Reducing food waste represents a crucial opportunity to relieve environmental pressure on our planet”, defends the nature conservation organization in the Planeta Vivo 2020 report, released today.
The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) warns that food loss and waste also contribute to climate change, with an estimated liability of “at least 6% of total greenhouse gases”, three times more than global aviation emissions.
“Almost a quarter – 24% – of all food sector emissions come from food that is lost in supply chains or wasted by consumers,” reads the report.
Changes in land use are currently the most important driver of biodiversity loss, according to WWF, followed by climate change, overexploitation of resources, pollution and invasive species, “not far behind”.
“Up to a fifth of wild species are at risk of extinction in this century due to climate change alone”, according to the organization.
The Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP) and WWF advocate a New Agreement for Nature and People, aimed at protecting and restoring nature by 2030, in support of the Sustainable Development objectives.
The three goals of this new agreement are “zero habitat loss”, “zero species extinction” and “halving the ecological footprint of production and consumption”.
The two documents were presented at an online session in which the Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, and the Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrão Santos, participated.
