In the 2017 Global Hunger Index, Pakistan ranks 106th out of 119 countries. The status is “serious” with score of (32.6) bordering. This seems contradictory knowing that around40 per cent of food is wasted in Pakistan as well as all over the world summing up to a number of around 1.3 billion tons according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. To put it into relation, food waste around the world each year is more than three times enough to feed the nearly one billion people in the world suffering from hunger, out of which one-third are children.
The basic concept of foodsharing was created against food waste in summer 2011 in Germany. The project objective is to fight everyday food waste and to raise this awareness about the problem in the society. Foodsharing.de encourages individuals to share food and enables volunteers, so called “food savers”, to pick-up food throughout the food supply chain. This is organised through cooperation from post-harvesting with farmers to markets, bakeries as well as restaurants and supermarkets. Distribution is achieved through public storage places, following standard rules and regulations. The foodsharing platform enables the coordination of pick-ups and cooperation as well as meetings and active working groups.
With over 200,000 registered users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and more than 39,000 voluntary food savers, the initiative has become an international movement that has saved more than 14 billion kilograms of food from destruction.
In addition to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which use the platform foodsharing.de, there are several other foundations and inspired emulators in Europe.
Hundreds die in Pakistan each year because of malnutrition and hunger. Meanwhile, over 870 kilograms of food is wasted on a daily basis in the capital alone
Foodsharing is supported by numerous volunteers who work in super regional working groups on topics such as IT, press, public relations and much more. At the heart of food sharing are the numerous “ambassadors” who coordinate the volunteers locally and organise public relations, campaigns and meetings on site.
The regularly active food saver rescues food that would otherwise have been thrown away, distributing it, free of charge, thus avoiding unnecessary waste and a more sustainable use of our limited resources. In addition to active “food saving”, the initiative also sees itself as an educational policy movement committed to the sustainable environmental and consumer goals of the United Nations. They are active in the following action spaces:
Foodsharing brings the current problems of the globalised world economy to touch, thus encouraging a real rethinking. In addition to the knowledge on climate change, environmental destruction and global exploitation, the initiative’s volunteers point out ways to concrete action. In their assets, they observe a discussion of the topics mentioned, a more sustainable consumption and changes in everyday behaviour.
Foodsharing is a local community, including, for example, people in social difficulties, people with disabilities, people without work, the elderly and refugees. They are experiencing reintegration, a contact at eye level without stigmatisation and a great appreciation in their commitment to food sharing.
The basic concept of foodsharing was created against food waste in summer 2011 in Germany. Foodsharing runs decentralised education workshops in schools, provide community cooking events and panel discussions, and gives lectures and readings about sustainability, healthy eating and waste of food
Foodsharing runs decentralised education workshops in schools, provide community cooking events and panel discussions, and gives lectures and readings about sustainability, healthy eating and waste of food.
Press and public relations: foodsharing is in favour of a disposable stop for supermarkets (as it has already been done in some EU countries) and demands transparency across the entire food chain. The support goes to alternative nutritional concepts such as solidarity agriculture, a fight against any kind of packaging madness and against unnecessary trade standards contributing largely to food waste. Food is wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial production down to final household consumption.
In developed countries, like European Union, projects like foodsharing help to save the food. Now let us have a closer look at the Pakistani society and their weddings or normal five-star hotels in Islamabad, which are wasting 870 kilograms of food every day.
And on the other hand, hundreds of people in Pakistan die each year because of malnutrition and various deficiencies, living in slums or have no access to healthy and nutritious food. We must see this possibility to counteract hunger and starvation just by Not wasting the overproduced food and sharing it accordingly.
Sarah Viola Emser works as an Ambassador for food sharing in Vienna, Austria. She is also a PhD Scholar at the University of Vienna. E-mail: [email protected]
Yasir Khan is a supporter of the initiative food sharing and works at the Academic Council on the United Nations System and PhD Scholar at University of Vienna. E-mail: [email protected]
Published in Daily Times, July 19th 2018.