Representatives from Italian and international organizations gathered in Milan on Wednesday as part of an initiative spearheaded by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) foundation to help the fights against hunger and obesity, see global food waste halved by 2020 and promote sustainable agriculture.
Experts from groups worldwide including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wasted Food, Slow Food, Italian environmentalist group Legambiente and farmers" union Coldiretti drafted the final version of the document at the center of the initiative, called Milan Protocol, after a day-long meeting.
"The objective is to bring the necessary improvements to have a perfect draft", said the Vice-President of the Barilla foundation, Luca Virginio.
"In three sessions of work, everyone brings know-how and scientific knowledge to the table".
A project of the BCFN, the Milan Protocol has the goal of promoting wider awareness and culture for sustainability and food access, directing proposals toward three major objectives to coincide with the food-themed Milan Expo 2015. The first is to tackle food waste setting the goal of halving by 2020 the impressive figure of 1.3 billion tons of dumped nutrients in the world. This aim is to be accomplished through targeted campaigns and long-term agreements that involve the entire food chain. The second goal is agricultural reform and the fight against financial speculation to promote more sustainable farming, through limits on prices for raw materials for food-based biofuels. The third objective is to tackle obesity by promoting nutritional education and healthy habits for children as well as adults.
Representatives from the organizations supporting the protocol on Wednesday took part in three workshops to discuss food waste, sustainable agriculture and healthy lifestyles.
The final draft of the Protocol will be presented at the sixth Forum on Food and Nutrition scheduled in Italy"s business capital on December 3-4.
The goals of the Milan Protocol and the issues it raises will be at the center of the forum"s debate.
This will help put the subject on the agenda ahead of Milan Expo 2015, which kicks off on May 1 under the theme "Feeding the planet. Energy for life". "In that context, our intention is to hand it directly to the various national and international institutions ahead of Expo 2015, where we hope it will be discussed and, if possible, adopted", concluded Luca Virginio.
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