“Global food systems have a crucial role to play in providing safe food to guarantee the right to food, while also promoting health care and decent incomes for those working in the food supply chain”. This what was stated by the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Marina Sereni, speaking at the Independent Dialogue on “Losses, surplus food, domestic waste and the Mediterranean diet: vision and commitment of the Italian agri-food system”, promoted by the Universities of Bologna and Teramo, given the UN Pre-Vertex on food systems, which will be held in Rome from 26 to 28 July.
For this reason,” noted the Vice Minister, “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire Italian Development Cooperation system have been working for some time to promote sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. Our efforts aim to exploit surpluses, eliminate waste, and ensure that every resource used in food production is beneficial and not detrimental to people and the planet. This approach creates jobs and increases productivity, but it also improves care for the land and biodiversity protection.
“These are fundamental issues that, also in the light of Italy’s presidency of the G20, commit our country to propose in forums such as the Pre-Vertex actions to improve the way we think about, produce and consume food at a global level. In particular, we want and need to emphasise strategies that mitigate some of the negative effects of food systems on animal health, land, water, climate and biodiversity. And we must also encourage food education that promotes a culture based on the awareness of what we eat and the importance of reducing waste. In this perspective,” concluded the Vice Minister, “the Mediterranean Diet should be promoted as a sustainable nutritional strategy, as well as innovation and research, which are necessary to move from subsistence farming to large-scale systems based on sustainability.
