Since 70 percent of freshwater use worldwide goes toward agriculture, reducing the one billion tons of food wasted every year is the best way to ease pressure on global water supplies, according to speakers at a World Water Week forum in Stockholm in August.
The United Nations has reported that one-third of all food is lost or wasted, so the forum speakers, representing many nongovernmental organizations, called for substantial public and private investment toward reducing food waste and increasing water efficiency in agriculture to avoid food and water shortages.
“More than one-fourth of all the water we use worldwide is taken to grow over one billion tons of food that nobody eats,” said Torgny Holmgren, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute. “That water, together with the billions of dollars spent to grow, ship, package and purchase the food, is sent down the drain. Reducing the waste of food is the smartest and most direct route to relieve pressure on water and land resources.”
Taste the Waste of Water, a documentary released in conjunction with the forum, further examined the cost of wasted food. According to the film, the food waste from North America and Europe alone would feed the 900 million people who suffer from hunger. And, ten percent of emissions related to climate change could be linked to agricultural operations to produce food that is subsequently wasted. The annual value of wasted food is estimated at $252 billion.
More information is available at www.worldwaterweek.org. The film, Taste the Waste of Water, is available to watch at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYhb0H6OgPE.