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With about one-third of all food produced around the world lost or wasted each year, reducing food loss and waste is a key component in ending hunger and malnutrition. A major hurdle, however, stems from the fact that food loss and waste are complex issues, and thus properly measuring them and identifying where in the food system they occur remain a challenge. Food loss and waste have been defined in various ways in the literature, and there has thus far been no single measurement methodology agreed upon.

Leaders of the G20 countries met in Hamburg, Germany on July 7-8 for the 2017 G20 Summit Meeting. The meeting covered a multitude of critical topics , including climate change, international trade relations, globalization, poverty and hunger, gender inequity, and inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

By Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla, Senior Research Fellow and Head of IFPRI's Latin America and Caribbean Program

Global trade is a complex, politically charged issue that has important implications for the global food system.

A recent paper in Food Policy, “Do Markets and Trade Help or Hurt the Global Food System Adapt to Climate Change” , investigates whether markets and trade aid or inhibit the global food system ability’s to adapt to climate change. The discussion and themes raised in the paper are based on results collected from a wide variety of sources.

FAO estimates that around the world, about 795 million people still suffer from hunger and more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies or forms of over-nourishment. Simultaneously, historical and future achievements in food security are under threat due to climate change and increasing pressures on natural resources.