WSIS TalkX: Innovating against food loss and waste
Andorra, San Marino, UNEP, FAO, ITU
Session 103
An International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
The number of people suffering from chronic hunger has risen since 2014, while at the same time tons of food, as well as the natural resources and energy needed to grow and transport it are wasted every day. According to FAO and UNEP, an estimated 14 percent of all food produced for human consumption is lost from production up to the retail level and 17 percent is wasted at the retail and consumption levels each year. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, with the disruption of value chains. Action on different fronts is required to address these issues to reduce food loss and food waste and make better use of the food we produce. This is critical to reaching Zero Hunger and SDG target 12.3 and will contribute to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a whole.
This year, the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste will make a call for public and non-state actors to prioritize actions and redouble efforts to use innovation to reduce food loss and waste, restoring and building back better more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.
As part of the global celebrations of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, the Permanent Mission of Andorra to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of San Marino to the United Nations, UNEP, FAO and ITU are partnering to bring together Member States, UN entities and non-state actors at a New York-based virtual event that will highlight innovative initiatives to fight food loss and waste along the value chain, including through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
The introduction of innovative solutions, powered by ICTs across the industry, is key for transformative change. Using ICTs and digital solutions in novel ways to boost the agricultural sector offers an immense opportunity to improve the livelihoods of rural communities and foster food security. Digital solutions can enable information access to effectively connect people in the value chain, and ICTs can help governments and development organizations strategize better solutions by providing richer data to help make informed decisions and pursue actionable solutions.
This event will be held as part of the World Summit Information Society’s WSIS TalkX to highlight stakeholders’ efforts on ICTs for development.
![H.E. Ambassador Elisenda Vives Balmaña](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/35a5df4c6e0aec119138d067e5f879f3/andorra.jpg?maxwidth=500)
She is an Andorran diplomat who has served as the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations since November 2015. She is also Andorra's ambassador to the United States, Canada and Mexico, and former ambassador to Morocco and Italy. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Vives Balmaña served as President of the Andorran National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 2012 to 2015 and was also Head of Protocol and Administrative Affairs of the Conseil General (National Parliament) from 2001 to 2015. Ms. Vives Balmaña was Ambassador of the Principality of Andorra in Italy and Morocco from 2000 to 2001. She was Director of the Principality’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2001, and before that a Desk Officer, responsible for the Community of Labour of the Pryenees, from 1992 to 1997.
![H.E. Ambassador Damiano Beleffi](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/d43cbf696e0aec119138d067e5f879f3/san_marino.jpg?maxwidth=500)
He is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of San Marino to the U.N., and Ambassador to the U.S.A. and Canada. He served as a member of the Credential Committee of the 74th session of the General Assembly of the U.N. He also served as facilitator in the Second Committee for the resolution entitled “International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste”, presented by San Marino and Andorra during the 74th session of the General Assembly of the U.N. He served as Vice President of the 73rd session of the General Assembly of the U.N. Ambassador of San Marino to Germany from 2008 to 2011, Deputy Permanent Representative of San Marino to the Council of Europe from 2001 to 2008 and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN from 2008 to 2016.
![Mr. Malcolm Johnson](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/eb87bd613a07ec119138d067e5f879f3/Portrait.jpg?maxwidth=500)
Mr Johnson is a seasoned information and communication technology (ICT) executive who has served in multiple senior management positions at ITU.
Prior to serving as Deputy Secretary-General, Johnson served from 2007 to 2014 as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB). Between 2003 and 2006, Mr Johnson was International Coordinator at the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom), where he had lead responsibility for the United Kingdom in ITU.
From 1992 to 2003, he was Director of the United Kingdom’s Radiocommunications Agency and European Coordinator for ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences in 1993, 1995 and 1997.
Between 1988 and 1992, he worked in the European Commission’s Telecommunication Regulations Division, where he represented the Commission in the Council and the Parliament of the European Union.
![Mr. Máximo Torero Cullen](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/43db00806e0aec119138d067e5f879f3/fao.jpg?maxwidth=500)
Máximo Torero Cullen was appointed Assistant Director-General of the Economic and Social Development Department at FAO in January 2019, before being aointed to his current role as FAO Chief Economist.
Prior to joining FAO, he served at the World Bank Group as Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Before the Bank, he led the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C. He is a Professor on leave at the University of the Pacific, Peru and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Bonn, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. and a Master degree in Economics from the University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific in Peru.
Srishti Jain Kawatra is the co-founder of Feeding India, country’s first and now largest organisation fighting hunger and food wastage. Srishti has had a remarkable journey growing the organisation from 2 people in Delhi in 2014, to a movement with 26,000 volunteers across 185+ Indian cities. In the last 7 years, it has served 120+ million meals, becoming one of the largest such nonprofits in Asia. Through her work, Srishti aims to build a more equitable world - where everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, specifically women and children.
In 2014, Srishti co-founded Feeding India after she was shocked to learn of her colleague’s experience of witnessing food being wasted at an Indian wedding. The thought of food for thousands going to waste in a country which has the highest number of undernourished people appalled her and left her wondering why no one had stepped up to take action yet. In January 2019, Srishti took the unique decision to merge Feeding India with Zomato, to accelerate progress towards ending hunger in India and in the process giving rise to a first-of-a-kind merger between a for-profit and nonprofit.
Feeding India currently serves 1,20,000 people daily through its feeding program to support people with reliable meals to ultimately come out of the poverty cycle and hunger. Srishti believes that empowering children, women, specially-abled and marginalised sections of society with short-term food support can help them gain the necessary financial freedom to get back on their feet.
She is a key spokesperson for issues of food security (United Nations SDG2), social entrepreneurship, youth-development, gender and societal equality on several national and international platforms.
Under her guidance, Feeding India received the following awards and recognition:
● Queen’s award at the Buckingham palace
● National Award by PM Modi
● Honor from President Ramnath Kovind
● United Nations in New York
● Start-up of the year 2016
● India CSR Impact Leader Award 2020
● Forbes 30 under 30
Prior to her experience with Feeding India, Srishti led marketing for an American research and advisory firm called Gartner for 5 years. Srishti was an active part of AIESEC in her undergraduate years and strongly believes in empowering young as changemakers. She is a graduate of Delhi University, where he received his Bachelors in Business Studies.
![Mr. Richard Beks](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/ed65df243b07ec119138d067e5f879f3/beks.jpg?maxwidth=500)
Richard is Co-founder and CCO of Orbisk. He has a background in commercial development and operational management at Albert Heijn and Randstad. At Orbisk he is responsible for commercial growth and operational excellence to help the Orbisk customers with the best food waste monitor and customer service needed to at least half their food waste.
![Mr. Timothy Laku](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/4b47c4006f0aec119138d067e5f879f3/timothy.png?maxwidth=500)
Timothy is a seasoned, goal and results-oriented executive level leader with over 15 years of experience and proven success in planning, management, as well as supporting technology operations on a global scale. He partners with other executives, managers, users, and stakeholders to elicit detailed operational requirements, ensure properly aligned and robust solutions to support services that consistently exceed expectations. He effectively plans, applies, and administers multi-million dollar resources, budgets, and acquisitions, including contracts. As an Advisor, he has led over 100 digital transformation initiatives, in over fifty local and global organizations. As a Strategist, he has partnered with over 30 organizations to align technology to business strategy, maximizing the value of technology investment. As a Catalyst, he has collaborated with over 20 executive teams to instigate over 80 innovation projects that drive complex transformations to business architecture, strategy, operations, and technology. As a Technologist, he has implemented over 50 secure on-premise and over 30 cloud architectures, to support transformation initiatives, increase business agility, and manage complexity. As an Operator, he has delivered operational discipline in over 30 organizations by focusing on reducing costs, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring systems perform reliably while managing risk, and protecting core assets.
Named in Time Magazine’s list of 10 Next Generation Leaders. Oscar is Founder of Chowberry Inc, a technology driven social business that helps retailers cut food waste and improves access to food and nutrition to households facing food poverty.
He is a recipient of the prestigious Rolex Award for Enterprise in Applied Technology for his work on Chowberry which to date has facilitated the distribution of over 1.5million meals to disadvantaged families facing hunger.
He founded Africa’s first trans-disciplinary design lab at the intersection of Arts and Technology called Gallery of Code, which works to develop innovative solutions that affect society in partnership with Ars Electronica Futurelab and is a member of the Advisor Board - Digital Communities to Ars Electronica GmBH Austria.
Oscar is a Young Convergence Pioneer working on the Convergence project which aims to improve micro-nutrient access to 10 Million individuals in the developing world out of the World Frontiers Forum - a consortium of leading scientists from Harvard University and MIT.
A prolific speaker, he continually shares insight on the innovative use of technology for social change at forums such as the UN Social Good Summit in New York, Yale University African Development Conference in Connecticut USA and most recently in Harvard Business School at the World Frontiers Forum.
![Mr. Jamil Ahmad](/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Files/View/IMG/6e5ce4f5fe17ec119138d067e5f879f3/Jamil_Ahmad.jpg?maxwidth=500)
Mr. Jamil Ahmad, is Director, Intergovernmental Affairs UNEP New York. He is also Head of the Intergovernmental Affairs and leads work on sustainable development and the environment in support of the organization’s policies and programme.
As an advocate of sustainability, he regularly engages with think thanks, universities, and research institutes, speaks to civil society groups, official delegations, students and other stakeholders about environment, climate change and sustainable development. He has been representing the UN Environment in international events.
He joined UN Environment in 2008 as the Secretary for the Governing Bodies based in Nairobi, Kenya (2008-14). He directed, managed and coordinated the Secretariat, led the organization of the sessions of the Governing Bodies and served as the focal point of UN Environment’s external relations.
A senior career diplomat, Mr. Jamil Ahmad entered the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1986 and has worked in several duty stations in Asia, Europe and Africa with rich experience of bilateral and multilateral affairs. He participated in numerous important UN and other intergovernmental meetings, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002, sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD) and the Governing Councils of UNEP, UN-HABITAT and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He was lead negotiator of the Group of 77 & China for Climate Change under Pakistan’s chairmanship in 2007 culminating at COP13 to UNFCCC in Bali in 2007.
Mr. Jamil Ahmad holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science.
Robin is a Programme Officer in the Strategy & Planning Division of the International Telecommunication Union where she coordinates ITU’s environmental sustainability management journey. She holds a master’s degree in international business from the University of St Andrews and a bachelor’s degree in media and communication. Prior to her current role Robin was a project manager at a business network for Corporate Social Responsibility and worked with young social tech entrepreneurs, both fostering her interest in innovative social business models and multi-stakeholder projects for sustainable development.
-
C1. The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
-
C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-business
-
C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-environment
-
C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-agriculture
-
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
-
Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development