Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Abstract

I was incredibly fortunate to participate in the 2019 Study Space XII in Lisbon (SSXII), the theme of which was Living in a Tourist Destination: Regulating Planning, Housing. The theme was particularly timely and relevant. In 2019, a record 27 million visitors flooded Portugal.2 Lisbon, with an estimated population of only 517,802 as of January 2020,3 had 18.4 million tourists4 crowding its beautiful, but narrow and often steep, streets and its fabulous restaurants, bars, and cafes. The SSXII participants were among those throngs of tourists as we joined local academics, judges, and city officials and administrators who guided us around the city to critically examine the impact that all of us were having upon Lisbon’s infrastructure, environment, affordable housing stock, social structures, and public services.

While many in our group were focused on Lisbon’s affordable housing crisis, I was interested in the city’s innovative response to another negative collateral consequence associated with over-tourism: food waste. This is an enormous problem world-wide as, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (“UN”), one-third of all food produced for human consumption, approximately 1.3 billion tons per year, is wasted or lost globally. Data as of March 1, 2020 indicates that Europe produces 88 million tons of food waste annually, of which approximately one million tons is food waste from Portugal. These data are not out of line with statistics from the United States, where, despite the fact that one in seven Americans is food insecure, nearly 62 to 63 million tons of food are sent to landfills, discarded, or left unharvested on farms annually.

The food waste problem is being addressed on a policy basis at the highest levels. For example, those engaging in agricultural law-related research are, of course, familiar with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aspires to, “[b]y 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including postharvest losses”. It was exciting, however, to directly experience a city’s response to the problem. This short essay will briefly provide an overview of the food waste crisis and its consequences, will describe Lisbon’s approach to the problem as well as that of other governmental and private entities and individuals, and will offer a few suggestions for alternative options or improvements.

Publication Date

2023

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