*The United Nations Secretary-General plans to convene a UN Food Systems Summit in 2021 to launch bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food towards delivering progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The United Nations (UN) has said that it is unacceptable that hunger is on the rise at a time when the world wastes more than 1 billion tonnes of food every year.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, who stated this stressed that “it is time to change how we produce and consume, including to reduce greenhouse emissions.” Subsequently, Guterres will convene a UN Food Systems Summit in 2021 to launch bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, with a view to delivering progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a piece published on the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Web site.

The global organisation explained that for decades, synthetic fertilizer – containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium – has been used all over the world to increase crop yields.

Plants need phosphorus to grow, but using too much of it can harm the environment, it stated.

It is also noted that experts have observed the global phosphorus cycle is broken, as in some regions of the world, too much phosphorus is being added to soils to grow food, contributing to nutrient pollution of lakes, rivers and coastal ecosystems.

Elsewhere, farmers can’t access enough phosphorus to meet food demands. As the global population grows, the global phosphorus cycle must be re-mapped to ensure sufficient food for all whilst reducing costly environmental damage, said the UNEP.

According to the global agency, where phosphorus use has been high, losses from agricultural land and through human waste have led to the pollution of fresh waters and coasts with excess nutrients, a process called ‘eutrophication’.

The body equally noted that humans are reliant on clean, safe freshwater and coastal ecosystems.

It affirmed that they provide clean drinking water, protein and livelihoods to large numbers of people across the world.

So, preventing phosphorus pollution of these sensitive ecosystems is vital for sustainable development.

It explained ‘eutrophication’ causes harmful algal blooms, which can now be viewed from space, and contributes to global scale biodiversity loss, oxygen “dead zones” threatening fisheries, and the contamination of drinking water supplies.

The UNEP and others, such as the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management, are calling for better management of phosphorus for the benefit of people and planet.

Mahesh Pradhan, a UNEP nutrient pollution expert, said: “There are huge environmental and socioeconomic gains that stand to be won through sustainable phosphorus management focused on relieving the burden of phosphorus pollution on lakes and their catchments.”