The global food system, which encompasses the production, manufacture and distribution of food, is a highly inefficient, fragmented and corrupted industry riddled with imbalances stemming from social disparities. While more than 820 million people went hungry in 2017, in that same year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food, which is one third of all food produced in the world, were either lost or wasted. An incredibly regrettable and unfortunate event, considering how much the environment is at stake when it comes to food production.
In fact, food production and agriculture is constantly named as one of the most contributing factors to habitat loss and deforestation. The mass destruction of forests in the name of harvesting cost us nearly 32 million acres of forests every year, and despite the many promises of corporations to cut down this number, the rate has been steady from years 2001 to 2015. Forest conversions has had other massive consequences; habitat loss of local fauna and flora, loss of biodiversity, climate disturbances and soil erosion are a few on the long list of environmental degradation caused by forest degradation on a massive scale. The price the environment has to pay is phenomenally high considering the fact that a large amount of the food produced does not reach the nearly 1 billion mouths of the under privileged that go hungry every year, and the lucky majority that does have access to the commodity waste it excessively. Not to mention, food waste accounts for 21 percent of the waste stream as they end up mostly in landfills, producing enormous amounts of methane.
In fact, the entire food system is responsible for about a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, which makes this commodity-driven industry highly detrimental to the environment. What can be done to make this system more sustainable and eco-friendly? Several actions can be taken to reduce the destruction of our forests; the rainforest alliance proposes sustainable forestry which recognises that while curbing forest conversion in its entirety may be unrealistic, finding the balance between deforestation and forest growth may control the damage being done. Individuals should make conscious decisions to reduce food wastage, but on a bigger government scale, ethical regulations and laws should be infused into the food system. In 2016, France became the first country to ban supermarket wastage, and many countries followed in their footsteps, and in 2018, the UK government devised a governmental scheme in conjunction with businesses and charities for proper food disposal to curb food wastage.
There are many ways in which the consumption of food and its roots contribute to environmental pollution. This section of the blog will explore areas from the production to the consumer – topics like food packaging single plastic wastes and carbon footprint.
Find out more about this topic here:
- About deforestation and agriculture.
- Infographic: http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/425852/
- Food waste and the footprint it leaves behind.
- The future of food and agriculture.
- Infographic: http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/471471/
