About one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, amounting to about 1.3 billion tons annually (FAO, 2011). This directly impacts sustainable development and decreases food security, nutrition, and the human right to an adequate diet.

The Turkish Academy of Sciences and the national productivity organization of Turkiye—the Directorate General for Strategic Research and Productivity, Ministry of Industry and Technology—held the Workshop on Reduction of Food Loss and Waste for Sustainable Food Systems in Ankara, Turkiye, 25–28 November 2025. The objectives were to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges and impacts of food loss and waste within food ecosystems, share best practices for managing food quality and minimizing food loss and waste, and explore suitable models for APO members to enhance food security and sustainability.

Twenty-two participants from 17 APO member economies completed this workshop, guided by four resource persons, one from Bangladesh, one from Japan, and two from Turkiye. A site visit to the public agricultural park Baskent Ankara Kalkinma Projesi (the Capital Ankara Development Project, also known as BAKAP) showed participants how agriculture and nature can be harmonized. At the end of the workshop, participants gave presentations on their plans to apply what they had learned in their own contexts.