WSIS TalkX - Innovating Against Food Loss and Waste

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome to today’s WSIS TalkX marking International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Many thanks to you all for joining us especially the honourable ambassadors.

After viewing our video no one can doubt what a terrible situation we are addressing today. 

Every day, as we heard, over 800 million people go hungry, and at the same time tonnes of food is being wasted each day, not to mention the waste of precious energy and resources going in its production and the impact on the environment.

We have all seen during the COVID-19 pandemic what information and communication technologies (ICTs) can do and what emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Big data, blockchain and AI are capable of. These same technologies can fight food loss and waste and put an end to hunger. That is why, ITU as the UN specialized agency for ICTs, is working with the FAO to study the application of these technologies in the agricultural and food distribution sector, including to reduce food loss and waste throughout the food chain. This is detailed in our joint ITU-FAO E-Agriculture in Action series.

From real-time monitoring of farms and food stocks, to linking consumers with producers more efficiently, emerging technologies have tremendous potential to transform the sector. And this is only the beginning of the journey. This year’s WSIS prize winners in the Action line C7 category (E-agriculture) highlighted some real solutions, including monitoring waste food, and using AI and blockchain to streamline supply chains. One of these champions will be sharing insights together with other innovators later in the panel discussion. Many thanks to all the panelists.

It is creative solutions such as these, working on the ground and having real-world impact, that can improve how food is grown, produced, supplied, consumed, and disposed of. To help them succeed, they must be supported by the right collaborative and multi-stakeholder partnerships at the local, regional and international level. Hence the need for a global platform like the WSIS Forum.  

Right now, there are so many young girls and boys sitting in their school on an empty stomach, because there is a mother or father who cannot put food on their table; all this while so much food is lost or wasted. 

It is good to see so many joining us today, on this special day, with a keen desire to change this, and correct the injustice. Today is an opportunity to raise awareness of what we can do when we come together to harness the power of ICTs to end hunger and fight food loss and waste. 

I look forward to the discussion and learning how we can strengthen our collaboration. 

Thank you.

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