16 October 2018

91 per cent of people fail to recognize the way we eat, produce and waste food is the single biggest threat to our planet, according to new research released today on World Food Day by WWF. The food system is both the single biggest user of natural resources and the single biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It uses 34 per cent of our land and 69 per cent of our freshwater, and is the main cause of deforestation and other habitat loss, yet one third of all the food produced is never consumed. The food system is responsible for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, one third of which come from wasted food alone.
 
The survey found a worrying disconnect among youths – 11 per cent of 18-24 year olds do not consider the food system to pose any threat at all to nature, with a total of 40 per cent believing the threat to be less than significant. Only people aged over 55 have a greater lack of awareness of the issue.
 
“The good news is we can make the food system work for people and nature. If food is produced more sustainably, distributed fairly and consumed more responsibly, we can feed everyone without destroying more forests, rivers and oceans. We need to increase people’s awareness of where food comes from, and change our behaviours to ensure the proper functioning of our food system,” said João Campari, WWF Food Practice Leader.
 
The survey of 11,000 people was commissioned by WWF and carried out by YouGov in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Netherlands, South Africa, UK and US. These countries have been identified both as having their food security threatened by damages to nature and as contributing significantly to these damages through high-impact food production, consumption or waste.
 
“Last week, a landmark UN report highlighted the threats caused by and to the food system by climate change, and the short timeframe we have in which to act. While there is a lot of great work already being done to improve the food system, we must work across sectors at greater scale and with greater urgency.” continued Campari.
 
With many respondents acknowledging the food system impacts nature in some way, results found that 80 per cent feel more can be done to address the issue, with 66 per cent specifically wanting governments to take greater action and 60 per cent wanting businesses to up their efforts.
 
“By working together to realise Food 2.0, an evolved food system, we all have the power to bring food to the top of the conservation agenda and help protect our global food security,” continued Campari.
 
To work towards Food 2.0, WWF already has close to 100 food-related programmes running across the world in partnerships with governments, food producers, businesses and other non-governmental organisations and will be introducing several global programmes in the coming months. WWF is taking a full system approach to achieving transformative changes in food, focusing on three key areas: Sustainable Production, Sustainable Diets and Food Loss & Waste.