A/HRC/25/57 between the food and energy markets: the conversion of crops for ethanol or biodiesel represents an economic opportunity especially where oil prices are high, which in itself already impacts on food prices. The push for biofuels has also exacerbated pressures on natural resources, as the production of energy crops competes for land and water with other uses, including the production of food, feed and fibre, environmental conservation and carbon sequestration, and urbanization or industrial projects (A/65/281). Foresight studies have suggested that, if current mandates are implemented, the price of cereals and other crops could be 35 per cent higher by 2030 than under a reference scenario where biofuel consumption remained constant at 2008 levels, putting an estimated 136 million more people at risk of hunger.27 20. Agroenergy may improve access to clean energy in many developing countries and reduce their dependency on fossil-fuel energies. Under certain conditions, it can improve the incomes of small-scale farmers. But the rapid expansion of the demand for liquid agrofuels for transport in rich countries results in higher food prices and speculation on farmland, and encourages land grabs on a large scale. For this reason, the Special Rapporteur has called for abandoning mandates on the consumption and production of biofuels and for improving international cooperation in this area, to mitigate the impacts of increased levels of agrofuel production on the prices of foodstuffs (A/HRC/12/31, paras. 23–25). This call was reiterated in 2013 by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, which advises the Committee on World Food Security.28 21. A third priority is to take significant measures to improve the efficiency of food systems, by reducing losses and waste. A 2011 study estimates that 1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption – about one third of the total – is lost or wasted.29 In lowincome countries, losses occur primarily as a result of inadequate storage and packaging and processing facilities, and a poor connection of farmers to markets, resulting in economic losses for food producers. In contrast, the levels of per capita food waste are much higher in rich countries than in developing countries: while a consumer in subSaharan Africa or South and South-East Asia wastes from 6 to 11 kg per year, this amount is between 95 and 115 kg per year in Europe and North America. 22. These inefficiencies result in food production exerting a much higher pressure on natural resources than would otherwise occur.30 Various measures could be taken in response. They include improving storage and marketing facilities, especially in developing countries; helping farmers to organize themselves in ways that avoid systematic net overproduction, for example by compensating the losses of some with the surplus production of others; improving access to credit for farmers to reduce the need for premature harvesting in order to satisfy food needs or to obtain cash; avoiding reliance on high “appearance quality standards” which lead to fresh produce being rejected if it does not present the required qualities of shape, size or colour; and developing direct farmer-toconsumer marketing. 23. Though apparently unrelated to one another, these issues – industrial livestock production, liquid biofuels for transport, and waste – share certain common characteristics. 27 28 29 30 10 G. Fischer, “How can climate change and the development of bioenergy alter the long-term outlook for food and agriculture?”, Looking Ahead in World Food and Agriculture: Perspectives to 2050 (FAO, 2011), pp. 129 and 133–135. High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, “Biofuels and food security”, HLPE report No. 5 (June 2013). J. Gustavsson and others, Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention (FAO, 2011). FAO, Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources (2013).