Search

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global food waste patterns through unanticipated shifts in composition and quantities. This review explores the impacts of COVID-19 on food waste generation and management approaches in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region during the recovery phase. This paper comprehensively explores food loss and waste in the NENA region. It presents a detailed analysis of pandemic-induced changes in household food waste behaviors, analyses the integration of circular economy principles in recovery strategies and policy implications, and outlines potential avenues for future research in this critical area. The key findings are threefold: First, this study reaffirms that food waste is a critical challenge in NENA, contributing to food insecurity, water scarcity, and environmental issues. Second, the pandemic catalyzed a dichotomy in consumer behaviors—panic buying initially increased waste, while hardship measures later encouraged sustainable waste reduction practices like meal planning and leftover use. Third, adopting a circular economy approach holds potential, yet its implementation remains limited in terms of curbing food waste and promoting sustainability in NENA. Overall, while the pandemic accentuated the urgency of tackling food waste, it also stimulated innovative policy thinking and strategic planning for building more resilient food systems. This paper concludes that leveraging pandemic-driven sustainability mindsets while addressing systemic drivers of waste will be key to mitigating food waste and its impacts moving forward. This paper offers timely insights into the evolving food waste management landscape in NENA, underscoring the need for integrated policies to navigate post-pandemic recovery effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition towards sustainable agriculture and food systems is necessary to address many challenges, such as food insecurity, climate change, and poverty. Research is highly needed to bring about such a transition. However, comprehensive analyses of the research landscape are often lacking, especially in developing countries. In this context, the present review provides a bibliometric analysis of the scholarly literature addressing agriculture and food in Mauritania. It draws upon a systematic review of 44 eligible articles retrieved through a search performed in June 2023 on the Web of Science. The analysis underscores many weaknesses of the research field: the annual output of articles is low; it focuses on environmental sciences to the detriment of social sciences and economics; more than three-quarters of the selected papers, despite dealing with Mauritania, do not involve any Mauritanian scholars; many of the prominent organisations are based outside Mauritania, especially in Europe, North America, and Oceania; the top ten affiliations include only two Mauritanian organisations; the most relevant funding agencies are based abroad; it focuses on crop production agriculture subsector and production stage of the food chain. However, there has been an increase in the number of publications, which might suggest an increase in interest in research on agri-food, and the research field is multidisciplinary. Promoting agri-food research is crucial to address the multiple challenges that Mauritania faces and facilitate the transition towards sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. Research in the field is also essential to unlock the potential of the agri-food sector in Mauritania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]