COPENHAGEN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from food sectors around the globe gathered on Thursday to discuss food challenges and solutions as a two-day international food summit opened here.
The World Food Summit - Better Food for More People, now on its third edition, aims to address the food challenges facing the world and seek solutions to promote healthier food, higher food safety, food culture and less food waste.
More than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year, equivalent to 24 percent of all the food produced for human consumption, according to Danish Ministry of Environment and Food.
Moreover, a new report on food waste from the consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group shows that every year the world throws away food worth 7,700 billion Danish kroner and taking action now could reduce this by 4,500 billion kroner.
"Our goal for the summit is to mobilise countries, businesses and organisations throughout the world to meet and take action to address the food challenges that are threatening our health and the environment," Danish Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said, who opened the summit together with Danish Princess Marie and the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anders Samuelsen.
Ellemann-Jensen added that the summit can also help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
The summit is one of the Danish government's initiatives for a more sustainable world.
Later this year, the Danish Prime Minister will be hosting the global P4G summit, at which the government will again be focusing on specific initiatives and partnerships addressing green growth and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.38 Danish kroner)
