Food waste and hunger, how is this possible?

In class we talked a lot about SDG 2 "zero hunger". Spread all around the world people are going hungry. According to the UN, in 2020 between 720 and 811 million persons worldwide were suffering from hunger. Our planet produces enough food to feed everyone on earth, why is there still hunger?

Hunger is when people spend entire days without eating. This could have any sort of reason, such as no money, no resources, humanitarian disaster or conflicts. Like all the complex issues that the world faces, also the causes of world hunger are multifaceted. According to world vision, poverty is the principle cause of global hunger. Due to unequal distribution of income and lack of resources millions of people simply cannot afford nutritious food or supplies that help growing their own food. This video below is a very easy video to show you what affects food security

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As said before, our planet produces enough food to feed the entire population and still people live in hunger. What happens to the food? Sadly, food waste is whats going on. According to the World Food Program USA (WFP USA): globally, one trillion dollars worth of food goes to waste every year. That’s one-third of all food produced for human consumption. The UN says that rich countries waste as much food as sub-Saharan Africa produces. Environment Programme, industrialized countries in North America, Europe and Asia collectively waste 222 million tons of food each year. Meanwhile, countries in sub-Saharan Africa produce 230 million tons of food each year. Shocking right? Why does food get wasted?

To be aware of food wasting, think about the times you threw away expired goods, lunch, leftovers, molted bread etcetera. This happens to us a lot more than we think. Another point of view, look at supermarkets or restaurants for example. According to "samen tegen voedelverspilling" In The Netherlands, every year 2 billion kilograms of food goes wasted. For the dutch readers: that is as much as a traffic jam from Utrecht to Barcelona with trucks driving bumper to bumper filled with food.

As WFP USA states: "We’re locked in a terrible cycle when it comes to food waste, climate change and hunger. Food waste has a significant impact on worldwide hunger and on climate change. When we waste food, we are throwing away resources that went into producing it. If we could reduce food waste, we could use those resources to help the hungry. By doing that, there would be a reduce on the demand of food decreasing the pressure on the food system.

Looking at climate change, the production and disposal of food waste generates greenhouse gas emissions. These contribute to climate change. Food waste in land releases methane, that is contributing to the greenhouse effect. Methane is 80 to 100 times stronger than CO2.

To end with, reducing food waste is a very important step in at least three SDGs: SDG2: zero hunger, SDG 12: responsible consumption and production and SDG 13: climate action. By reducing food waste we can make a difference in so many aspects, helping to develop into a better and more sustainable world. Everyone can help contribute in spilling less food. Be aware of how many food you waste, and think about what you can do against it. If everyone would be aware, we can reach the goals and end hunger.

literature:

• https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day

• https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/how-food-waste-affects-world-hunger/

• https://samentegenvoedselverspilling.nl/voedselverspilling-feiten-en-cijfers/

• https://sdgs.un.org/

• https://www.wvi.org/newsroom/climate-change/global-food-loss-and-waste-are-hidden-contributors-global-hunger-world

• https://www.knmi.nl/kennis-en-datacentrum/uitleg/broeikasgas-methaan