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in one of the project’s colourful two-person kayaks, equipped with paddles, life vests and trash pickers. While enjoying the countryside, kayakers can pluck garbage from the water and fill the onboard trash can.
Although still in its infancy, the scheme aims to address a growing global challenge. According to UN Environment figures, about 13 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans each year, the majority of
it fed by rivers from land-based sources. This pollution damages marine life which reduces biodiversity and can potentially harm human health. Since the initiative launched in 2017, volunteers have collected more than 21,000
kilograms of floating waste from Europe’s waterways and the project is growing. The scheme, which started in Copenhagen is now operating all around Denmark as well as Norway, Ireland and Germany.
Denmark: WWF’s Sustainable Seafood Guide can help consumers make better choices Consumers may not always know the provenance of the fish they buy which makes it difficult to make sustainable choices. Consumers’ decisions influence demand and by extension have an impact on fish stocks, which are not all equally healthy. According Jens Peder Jeppesen,
a marine biologist and manager of the Ă˜resund Aquarium, in avisen.dk, for consumers to make sustainable choices it is important that they are aware of the species they consume, the stocks they come from, and the methods used to fish them. He recommends looking for the
ASC or MSC label and checking the WWF’s Sustainabel Seafood Guide. As a general rule, the guide suggests consumers should eat different species of locally caught fish, products certified by the MSC or ASC, and fish caught with gear that does not damage the environment.
Bottom trawls and beam trawls, for example, do more damage than fixed nets, traps, fyke nets or lines. The fishing method is also usually mentioned on the packaging. The guide can be found here https://fiskeguiden. w w f. d k / w w f- re c o m m e n d a tions/
World Food Summit 2019, 29-30 August, Copenhagen
Vision: A healthy and sustainable global food system for people and planet Speakers at the World Food Summit discussed ways to make food systems safe, healthy, and sustainable and thereby conform to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At a side event organised by the University of Copenhagen scientists showed how lifestyles could become more sustainable with relatively minor changes.
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he fourth edition of the World Food Summit was hosted by Mogens Jensen, the Danish Minister for Food, Fisheries and Equal Opportinuties and Minister for Nordic Cooporation at the end of August in Copenhagen. World Food Summit 2019 – Better Food for More People, attracted over 250 participants from 45 countries representing all the
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stakeholders in the sector including governments, industry, NGOs, and scientists. The discussions at the main event surrounded three themes: ensuring food safety and food security; better health and diets; and improved resource efficiency, through which key actions could be identified that would lead to healthy and sustainable food systems.
The opportunities offered by the summit to move food and food production centrestage in the global debate on sustainability generated a number of side events to the main summit. Several of these were dedicated to the challenge of food waste, but food insecurity, alternative proteins, and innovation in the food area, were also
among the themes covered by the side events. The University of Copenhagen, where research and education covers the entire food value chain from field to consumers to waste including health of humans, animals, crops and nature, also hosted a wellattended side event. Titled Sustainable and Healthy Foods for the Future, it included a plenary
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