Food loss and waste and the right to adequate food: Making the connection

Book excerpt: This Discussion paper explores the relationship between food loss and waste (FLW) and the right to adequate food. It focuses on the need to develop sustainable global consumption and production systems to contribute to the realization of the right to adequate food while it argues for a human rights-based approach to tackle FLW. As such, it presents key notions of FLW and expands on their impact for the realization of the right to adequate food. Simultaneously, it looks into the different components of the right to adequate food and offers ways through which its legal obligations could help processes and initiatives aimed at reducing FLW. The Discussion paper argues for a more holistic approach to reducing FLW and guaranteeing the right of each person to feed herself or himself in dignity. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) wishes to thank the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) for its financial support, which made this publication possible.