Food is a key element of the tourism experience and a differentiating factor for destinations and at the same time represents an entry point for circularity and transformation in tourism value chains through sustainable procurement (local and organic sourcing, sourcing from market surplus or collective procurement), sustainable menus (including healthy and plant-rich dishes) and food waste and loss reduction and management .
Implemented in
- Africa
- Asia / Pacific
- Europe and Central Asia
- Latin America / Caribbean
- Middle East
- North America
Sectors of activity
Agricultural and Fishery, Food & Beverage, Tourism
Type of initiative
Capacity Building & Implementation, Education & Awareness Raising, Policy Frameworks & Tools
Start date
20/01/2020
End date
31/12/2022
Submitted on:
11/02/2021Objectives
The Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3 aims “by 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels & reduce food losses along production and supply chains (including post-harvest losses).” Currently, several international frameworks and organizations are working on advancing target 12.3 globally across global food value chains targeting major producers and retailers. Nevertheless, despite importance of food value chains in tourism activities, there is no clear pathway ensuring tourism businesses are advancing in sufficiently impactful manner to contribute to the 12.3 and more broadly sustainability and circularity of food value chains.
Following the results of the strategic consultation of the One Planet STP network, 82% of Programme stakeholders that responded to the consultation, prioritized the work on food waste prevention in order to support the tourism sector in achieving SDG target 12.3 on halving food waste globally by 2030.
Hence it was agreed that in order to integrate and promote SCP in tourism food value chains, Programme will focus on the development and implementation of the Global Food Waste Initiative that will support the tourism sector stakeholders in reaching SDG target 12.3 through systemic approach, including by tackling the issue of sustainable diets.
Activities
As collected through the One Planet Reporting
Output level
Outreach and communication for SCP
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strategic consultation on priorities of the One Planet network
strategic consultation on priorities of the One Planet network
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
France, UNWTO, Spain
Objective
During the first phase of the strategic consultation of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme that was held in second half of 2019, a total of 22 interviews were conducted with members of different types of organizations, predominantly Civil Society. The consultation brought forward following recommendation from the network: - Focus on specific and tangible actions; - Need of clear and tangible objectives; - Define the best interplay between action with governments and business sector. The network highlighted as well the importance of: - working with political and corporate leadership to advocate and mobilize commitments for the integration of SCP and circularity in the tourism sector; - supporting governments and the private sector stakeholders in the development of tourism policies and strategies integrating SCP; - aggregating and disseminating the efforts of programme members to inspire wider changes through promotion of best practices and innovative methodologies. To implement these areas of work, the STP network prioritized three following topics: • reduction of plastic pollution; • reduction of GHG emissions; • integration of SCP in tourism food value chains. With regards to plastic pollution, the One Planet STP just launched The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative that acts as an interface of the Ellen MacArthur New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enables businesses, governments, and other tourism stakeholders to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards circularity in the use of plastics. The Initiative was developed in a consultative manner with tourism stakeholders that expressed interest in being actively associated to the process and therefore became part of the GTPIs Advisory Committee, which is currently composed of frontrunning companies, NGOs, business associations and governments willing to support the implementation of programme's workstream on plastics. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative has been considered by the consulted programme members as an interesting and useful activity to pursue in the coming years. The objective of the second phase of the consultation was therefore to identify two other key activities for the One Planet STP to be implemented in 2020-2022, in relation to prioritized topics of GHG emissions and food value chains.
Achievements
The survey helped identifying STP stakeholders that are particularly interested in the process of elaboration of STP strategy so as organizations that may be actively involved in the development of the strategic plan of work and implementation of specific activities related to GHG emissions of the tourism sector and tourism food value chains (list of respondents below). Survey respondents insisted on importance of sharing of best practices through webinars and case studies as well through regional workshops and round tables. Large companies (Accor, Disney, Iberostar) expressed interest in piloting specific solutions (i.e. sustainable buffets) and highlighted importance of collective action and action on destination level (TUI, Iberostar). Importance of work with SMEs was highlighted frequently in survey responses – mainly through knowledge sharing, trainings and communication campaigns (specifically with regards to food value chains). On GHG-related activities, respondents highlighted: - need of focus on air travel; - need to translate scientific information into actions; - lack of knowledge of tourism professional on the topic of GHG reduction; - importance of slow tourism; - need of better measurement of transport emission on destination level; - importance of measurement & monitoring and technological innovation; - better understanding of barriers to action; - need to bring together all relevant actors (UN has legitimacy to do so). On food value chains-related activities, respondents highlighted: - importance of measurement & monitoring and technological innovation; - need to demonstrate cost-effectiveness; - need for trainings; - need to work on destination level; - local farming and local food diets were highlighted several times; - possibility to create compendium of successful case studies on destination level; - behavioral change for tourists through adjustment of diets as low hanging fruit; - food waste reduction and plant-based diets as major climate solution (highlighted by several respondents); - importance of information campaigns on food waste. Note: Collected responses also show that Kasane Call to Action with 4 pillars of action "Lead, Innovate, Finance and Empower (LIFE)" are still relevant to the network.
Training for SCP
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Strategic workshop on food value chains in the tourism sector
Strategic workshop on food value chains in the tourism sector
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
France
Objective
During the second phase of the strategic consultation, the objective was to identify specific activities that the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme could undertake in order to support tourism stakeholders integrating sustainable consumption and production patterns in their operations. On the topic of food value chains, 82% of programme stakeholders that responded to the consultation, prioritized the work on food waste prevention in order to support the tourism sector in achieving SDG target 12.3 on halving food waste globally by 2030. In addition, the majority of respondents (62%) also showed strong interest in developing a work stream on sustainable and plan-based diets. Hence, the objective of the workshop would be to further discuss with participants these two specific work streams and reflect on the added value the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme could bring to its partners on the topic of food waste and sustainable diets. More specifically, during the workshop the following topics were discussed: - existing global frameworks to address the topic of food waste and SDG 12.3 - benchmarking of major tourism sector stakeholders working on the issue of food waste - major gaps on the topic of food waste in the tourism sector that the Programme could support bridging - potential areas of work for the Programme to tackle the issue of food waste - prospective activities to support Programme stakeholders' work on sustainable diets.
Achievements
• During the discussions, participants stressed and agreed on the following points: • the crucial role of training for different teams, education and communication to address food waste and raise awareness on sustainable food value chains (including sustainable diets), especially for young generations • the need of clear definitions of food loss and waste and sustainable diets • the need of certification for food waste management • the need to support small businesses and local suppliers in addressing food waste • the need to take into account cultural factors and the perception of food in different countries • the need of simple criteria and a common platform to ensure measurement, monitoring and data sharing • new opportunities to rethink business models and develop post-COVID practices • the need of a new post-COVID narrative on food waste and sustainable food value chains • the need for economic arguments in terms of cost benefits and financial incentive in order to engage businesses • the added value of the Initiative to offer a strategic framework for tourism actors • the importance to integrate sustainable diets in a a holistic approach
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Inception workshop for the development of the Global Roadmap on Food Loss and Waste Reduction in the tourism sector
Inception workshop for the development of the Global Roadmap on Food Loss and Waste Reduction in the tourism sector
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
France
Objective
Objective and expected outcome: Discuss and agree on the scope and expected content/ overall structure of the Global Roadmap on Food Loss and Waste Reduction in the tourism sector
Achievements
Action points agreed during the meeting Coordination team will: - Explore most appropriate and coordinated approach to collect additional information about FW prevention and reduction activities from participants in order to improve gap analysis of the sector and ensure that the future Roadmap considers efforts that were already undertaken; - Organize bilateral discussions with WWF and other participants working on measurement and monitoring to further explore coordination between ongoing work on measurement methodology and the upcoming Roadmap; - Organize bilateral discussions with PATA to explore development of cross-thematic pilot (food waste and plastics) in Thailand; - Reach out to the participants about further consultations on food value chains organised by the 10YFP Secretariat to map relevant policies and business solutions; - Explore how the upcoming Roadmap can support data collection for the FW baseline in service sector; - Convene again to discuss a draft structure for the roadmap. More broadly, this workshop allowed CD team to collect recommendations for the development of the Global Roadmap on Food Waste and Loss in the tourism sector
Knowledge resource and technical tool
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Overview of Tourism Companies' Actions to Address Food Waste
Overview of Tourism Companies' Actions to Address Food Waste
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
France
Objective
This overview is a qualitative analysis based on publicly available information regarding the actions and ambitions of tourism companies to address food waste. This initial analysis: • Provides an overview of where the sector stands vis-à-vis SDG 12.3: "By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses". It does not endorse/dismiss compliance of the actions/intentions presented and could be further improved via one-on-one conversations or targeted surveys with the companies listed below. • Identifies key areas in which the One Planet's Sustainable Tourism Program, UNWTO, UN Environment and other key stakeholders can focus their efforts in the context of a "Global Tourism Food Waste Initiative".
Achievements
After analysis of publicly available information of actions of 5 major tourism companies to address food waste and series of collective and bilateral consultations with the members of the network, following gaps within the tourism sector on the topic of food waste were identified: • Absence/lack of strategic vision with milestones that could be transposed into action plans locally; • Lack of common definitions and progress indicators; • Lack of continuity in measurement of waste and lack of consistent annual reporting on progress; • Punctual and non-recurrent character of activities aiming at reducing food waste and absence of consistent follow up; • Levers to address food waste and loss are not identified in comprehensive and systematic manner (lack of value chain and circular approaches, solutions such as sustainable procurement not always clearly identified and prioritized); • Lack of trainings and awareness rising activities among staff, in particular kitchen staff. This analysis helped to define the framework and the scope for the future global roadmap on food waste in the tourism sector.
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Booking.com Sustainability Handbook and recommendations related to food waste reduction
Booking.com Sustainability Handbook and recommendations related to food waste reduction
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
Booking.com
Objective
Booking.com issued for members of its Partner Hub recommendations on practical steps to integrate sustainable solutions in their operations
Achievements
The Sustainability handbook provides recommendations on: - setting environmental baseline - reducing plastic consumption -reducing water consumption - reducing food waste - becoming certified - reducing energy consumption and using green energy
Impact and Results
Following strategic consultations on the topic, UNEP, UNWTO, FAO and UNDP joined forces for the development and implementation of One Planet Multi-Partner Trust Fund for SDG12 (MPTF) Project on sustainable food systems. The tourism-related component of the project includes following activities:
- Framework (tolos/approach) to scale up sustainable food management in the tourism sector, including the reduction of food waste:
o Policy recommendations for the integration of sustainable food management in tourism policies
o Procurement recommendations for circular food value chains in the tourism sector
o Roadmap on FLW in tourism: the backbone of the Global Tourism Food Waste Initiative
- Capacity development for food and hospitality businesses on sustainable food management (on line), including case studies to build the business case
- Awareness raising materials on sustainable food management.
Next steps and how to get involved
One Planet STP network and UN agencies