Food
Drive sustainable food systems to conserve nature and feed humanity
Overview
9 Billion
By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion and the demand for food will double.
It’s time to reconsider food.
Around the globe, food production, distribution, management and waste threaten wildlife, wild places and the planet itself.
Today, 7.3 billion people consume 1.6 times what the earth’s natural resources can supply. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion and the demand for food will double.
So how do we produce more food for more people without expanding the land and water already in use? We can’t double the amount of food. Fortunately we don’t have to—we have to double the amount of food available instead. In short, we must freeze the footprint of food.
In the near-term, food production is sufficient to provide for all, but it doesn’t reach everyone who needs it. About 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year—four times the amount needed to feed the more than 800+ million people who are malnourished.
By improving efficiency and productivity while reducing waste and shifting consumption patterns, we can produce enough food for everyone by 2050 on roughly the same amount of land we use now. Feeding all sustainably and protecting our natural resources.
WWF works to secure a living planet that will sustain a more affluent population. From refining production and distribution to combating waste and environmental impacts, we want to improve how the world grows, transports and consumes this precious fuel.
Priority Commodities
Beef
Dairy
Farmed Salmon
Farmed Seafood
Farmed Shrimp
Other Farmed Seafood
Palm Oil
Soy
Sugarcane
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Seafood
Tropical Shrimp
Tuna
Whitefish
Wild-Caught Seafood
The food-climate connection
It seems obvious, but sometimes we need a reminder. Food comes from nature. So everything we eat has an impact on the planet – from how it's grown, to how its packaged, to how it gets where it’s going, how it's cooked, and at the end of the meal, where it winds up (say, your tummy, the trash or a compost pile).
Sustainability Works
Chef José Andrés Dedicates Special Week at DC-Based Oyamel Cocina Mexicana to WWF’s Monarch Butterfly Work
Why It Matters
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In the next 40 years, increased demand for food will put pressure on agricultural, aquaculture and fishing resources that are already strained. The strain to produce crops and sell food at affordable levels will impact the planet and the world’s poor. Local communities, industry leaders, governments, and non-governmental organizations must work together to produce better and consume more wisely.
What WWF Is Doing
WWF works with partners to feed the world while conserving the earth’s precious natural resources.
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Certification Standards
One of the biggest threats to biodiversity and ecosystems is where and how we produce food. WWF is working with retailers, buyers and producers responsible for key food commodities to establish credible, certification standards. These standards—including those already established for aquaculture, beef, soy, cotton, sugar and palm oil—measurably reduce key environmental impacts.
Increase Supply of More Sustainably Sourced Food
WWF is dedicated to building innovations for sustainability. We support producer improvement projects for priority food crops and promote sustainable supply chain solutions for food companies. These business solutions help companies reduce environmental impacts, become more profitable and provide cases to shape the way we think about becoming more sustainable in the future.
Increase Demand of More Sustainably Sourced Food
WWF is engages companies, platforms, sectors and governments to reduce key impacts of food production. This includes convincing priority companies and sectors to use purchases and investments to drive more sustainable food production.
Education and Action
Produce better and consume more wisely. That’s the message but it will take entire sectors, platforms or even countries to move the needle on sustainability. WWF encourages enabling conditions and enforcement of policies that encourage more sustainable and efficient food production and consumption. We help businesses understand how they can contribute to a more sustainable brand. And we create awareness of the issue for US consumers, from shopping wisely to reducing food waste.
Reducing Food Waste
An effective food strategy must address the issue of food loss and waste. In order to meet global food security needs, as well as the food demands of an increasingly affluent global population, we will need to both increase productivity and efficiency as well as reduce food waste.
Press Releases
- Climate Crisis Cannot be Tackled Without Shift Away from Damaging Land Use, Major Report Warns August 08, 2019
- 2018 Farm Bill Offers Promise for the Prairie December 12, 2018
WWF In The News
- Food Expiration Dates May mislead Consumers September 09, 2019 – Scientific American
Projects
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The AgWater Challenge
Ceres and WWF created the AgWater Challenge. Together, we’re engaging leading food and beverage companies to provide examples of leadership and encourage stronger, more transparent commitments to better steward fresh water resources in agricultural supply chains.
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Mozambique’s Lifeline: Nature
Mozambique is instituting a five-year strategy that makes the sustainable management of natural resources and the environment a priority, and to the creation of a program that will focus on protecting the country’s natural capital.
Publications
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No Food Left Behind, Part 2: A Tale of Two Markets: A Model for Working Together to Fully Utilize the Surplus
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Illegality in the Food We Eat
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Educating Tomorrow's Food Waste Warriors
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Living Planet Report 2018
Jason Clay
Senior Vice President, Markets | Executive Director, Markets Institute
Pete Pearson
Senior Director, Food Loss and Waste
