Pope Francis: Millions are dying while tons of food are wasted

28 November 2014. Campaigners against waste of food in Europe have welcomed Pope Francis´criticism of waste in his speech to the European Parliament this week. 

“It is intolerable that millions of people around the world are dying of hunger while tons of food are discarded each day from our tables“, Pope Francis told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“Even His Holiness Pope Francis says that we must stop wasting food”, Selina Juul, the Danish anti-food waste campaigner told UNRIC.

“Pope Francis just received raucous applause in EU Parliament for condemning food waste in a world where hunger still thrives,” tweeted the UK campaigner Tristram Stuart, leader of the Feeding the 5,000 movement. Juul and Stuart have both been active participants in the UN campaign, Think.Eat.Save – Reduce Your Foodprint.

This is not the first time Pope Francis raises the issue of food waste since becoming pope in 2013. In an audience in Rome on World Environment Day on St. Peter's Square, he focused on the day´s theme, which was food waste on this United Nations International Day in 2013.

"Our grandparents used to make a point of not throwing away leftover food. Consumer-ism has made us accustomed to wasting food daily and we are unable to see its real val-ue," Pope Francis said. "Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry.”

According to UN statistics hunger affects some 870 million people and 2 billion suffer from at least one nutritional deficiency.

Other food waste news:

• 12,000 event have taken place in the 28 member states of the European Union as part of the European Week for Waste Reduction, which this time focuses on food waste. 
• As the UN gears up for the Climate Change Conference in Lima 1-12 December (COP20),  Nick Nutall, the Spokesperson of UNFRCC, which hosts the conference, wrote in a tweet that, “If Food Waste was a country (it) would be the third largest emitter (of) greenhouse gases.” Nutall told UNRIC that although food waste was not per se on the agenda in Lima, “I think 
delegates to UN conferences are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental, social and economic impacts of the wastage of food and both myself."  
• Meanwhile in the US Americans celebrated the Thanksgiving, Thursday 27 november, in a traditional way. “America wastes more than 200 million pounds of #turkey on #Thanksgiving. Be thankful, not wasteful,” tweeted the North America Office of UNEP, the UN Environment Programme.

Photos:

Pope Francis applauded after his 40 minutes speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 25 November. © EP

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. UN Photo/Eskender Debebe.