There is an urgent need to put a lid on food wastage as part of efforts to fight hunger as well as keeping the world around us clean and tidy, according to a top official at GPIC.
Abdulrahman Jawahery President of GPIC highlighted the growing importance of maintaining the environment, pointing out the great efforts made by the United Nations with regard to environmental issues.
In his message on World Environment Day, which falls on the fifth of June of each year, Jawahery said that the UNO had chosen the slogan “Think, Eat, Save.” Through this slogan, the aim is to reduce both wasteful food and the waste of food, a campaign that encourages us all to work together to fight against extravagance in our eating habits and to reduce the more than 1.3 billion tons of food wasted each year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO.)
Such a quantity is the same amount of food produced by all the Sub-Saharan countries combined; millions of people go hungry every day around the world, while more than 20 thousand children a day under the age of five perish from hunger, daily.
The President added that as a result of this massive imbalance in lifestyles and its devastating effects on the environment, the theme this year represents an encouragement for all to be more aware and conscious of the environmental impact resulting from the food choices that we taking in each day, as it represents a call to action to make better informed decisions in this regard, pointing out that the planet is struggling to provide enough resources, while the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one-third of international global food production is either spoiled or thrown away.
He said that the waste of food represents an enormous drain on natural resources. It is also a significant contributor to negative effects on the environment, stressing that this year’s campaign invites us to take decisive action, starting from our own homes. We may then see the effectiveness and power of collective decisions to reduce the massive amounts of food waste, save money, and reduce the environmental impact of food production.
Jawahery added that wasting food means wasting all the resources and effort used in the production of these foodstuffs, including fresh water, land, forests and biodiversity, so making an informed decision will mean to choose foods that cause limited environmental impact, as in organic foods, which avoid chemicals in the production process and the purchase of locally produced food which can contribute greatly to the reduction of harmful emissions.
Jawahery called on everyone to stop for a moment to reflect about the twenty thousand children who die every day from hunger, before deciding to waste food by throwing it in the trash cans. We may all contribute thereby to save humanity and the environment in which we live.