The Red de Municipios por la Agroecologia organises their “Annual event 2024 and gathering”

From October 3 to 5, the city of Córdoba hosted the annual meeting of the Red de Municipios por la Agroecología (RMA), a key event bringing together institutional representatives, experts, and activists committed to promoting agroecological practices. Among the invited partners, the MUFPP contributed with a closing speech and participating in the award ceremony recognizing an outstanding agroecological initiative from a signatory city.

The program spanned three intense days full of meetings, technical sessions, trainings and visits around the beautiful Córdoba. Before the closing ceremony on October 4, participants took a tour of the Córdoba Botanical Garden, the venue for the event, where the innovative project “From Chlorine to Biodiversity” was presented. This initiative aims to transform the city’s fountains into spaces that promote biodiversity.

During the day, several presentations were held simultaneously. Francesco Cagnola, representing the MUFPP, participated to a session on how to engage the media in promoting agroecology, which highlighted the challenges of communicating this innovative and complex topic, crucial activity for the future success of an approach that is gaining the general attention not without difficulties.

The official closing ceremony featured opening speeches by:

• José María Bellido Roche, Mayor of Córdoba
• Enrique Pueyo, President of the Network of Municipalities for Agroecology
• Manuel Gómez Galera, Secretary General of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food for the region of Andalusia
• Paula Fernández-Wulff Barreiro, Director General for the 2030 Agenda at the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and the 2030 Agenda
• Begoña García Bernal, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food fro Spain

Pepe Esquinas, a former FAO member, opened the awarding cerimony with a passionate address about the world’s need for better production and redistribution rather than just more production.

The Annual event is an occasion for the RMA to celebrate with the “Ciudades y Pueblos que Alimentan 2024” (Cities and Towns that Feed 2024) awards. In this second edition of the competition, the three best practices concerning urban food policies receive recognition for their work, at least one of which is dedicated specifically to small municipalities. In addition, a fourth prize is awarded in collaboration with the MUFPP.

The award assigned in collaboration with the MUFPP went to the Municipality of Fuenlabrada for its initiative titled “Comete Fuenlabrada” (Eat Fuenlabrada): the project consists in eleven itinerant agroecological markets managed by the Association of Producers from the Agrarian Park of Fuenlabrada. The number of markets has grown significantly in the 10 years of the initiative, demonstrating its structural importance and the municipality’s interest in responding to the increasing citizen demand. Barcelona, MUFPP signatory city, received as well a different recognition for its project “Comerç Verd” (Green Commerce) a certification to identify local businesses in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands that offer environmentally friendly food products and services.

To conclude the event, Francesco Cagnola delivered the closing remarks, reaffirming the MUFPP’s commitment to supporting agroecological practices and strengthening collaboration between city networks dedicated to promoting sustainable food systems and highlighted the uniqueness of the RMA, that brings together municipalities, consumers and small producers from all over Spain.

This gathering marked an important step forward in reinforcing the partnership between the MUFPP and the RMA, two organizations that share the goal of making cities more resilient, sustainable, and committed to food justice.

CEMAS and EUFIC organise the event “Capacity building for food loss and waste prevention and reduction in cities”

On October the 8th, CEMAS and EUFIC organised the international event titled “Capacity building for food loss and waste prevention and reduction in cities” dedicated to sharing innovative practices for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste in cities. The event brought together delegates from various European institutions and cities engaged in promoting solutions to combat food waste.

Among the participants, Cristina Lisetchi from the European Commission (Farm to Fork Unit) outlined the EU’s efforts in this area, presenting several key initiatives. She discussed the mapping of voluntary agreements on food waste, the platform with action recommendations available on the Commission’s website, and the 23 recommendations developed through a participatory process. Cristina also announced the upcoming launch of a call for the Future Foods program and the mapping of funding opportunities conducted by the Covenant of Mayors.

Valeria De Laurentis from the JRC presented the EU Consumer Food Waste Forum, while Laura Fernandez from EUFIC emphasized the importance of public education in food waste prevention.

Then, city representatives shared their concrete experiences.

• Isabella Ligia from Cagliari presented the Food Plan for the metropolitan area, an initiative based on analysis and OpenGov processes that uses food as a tool for sustainable development. Cagliari also launched the Smart Food and Lab Met projects, aimed at the sustainable physical growth of the city.

• Natalia Boitot from Warsaw described the prototypes developed during the Food Trails project, applying service design and design thinking to reduce food waste in restaurants and improve food flows in food banks.

• Teresa Materia presentated for the city of Milan explaining the creation of Food Hubs to combat food poverty and projects like “A Table Without Waste” and “Fruit in the Morning”.

• Arash Devambarsh, the Deputy Mayor of Courbevoie, discussed the impact of the French law that requires supermarkets to donate surplus food, urging other countries to adopt similar measures.

• Cristina Linnerbag from Gothenburg presented a successful project in public collective catering aimed at reducing food waste, which has now been implemented throughout Sweden with support from the Swedish Food Agency.

In closing the morning session, Liliana Annovazzi Jakab from UNECE introduced NaturEatTown, a blockchain-based software for resource management that connects local stakeholders in the fight against food waste.

In the afternoon, participants split into three parallel workshops:

1. Addressing Consumer Food Waste moderated by Francesco Cagnola from MUFPP.
2. Promoting Collaboration Among Various Stakeholders moderated by Kader Makhlouf from UCLG.
3. Management and Valorization of Food Losses and Waste through measurement and reuse, moderated by Chiara Roticiani from EUROCITIES.

These workshops featured a diverse participation of city officials, associations, universities, and representatives from intergovernmental institutions, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and best practices.

The Centro Mundial de Alimentación Sostenible (CEMAS) will provide a detailed report of the event and the content of the workshops in the early months of 2025, offering a comprehensive overview of the best strategies to address food waste in cities.