News | Wednesday, 8th July 2020

Students join £5.2m EU project to tackle food sustainability crisis

MetMUnch will teach young people the importance of climate-friendly food consumption

The MetMunch team meeting the community and students
The MetMunch team meeting the community and students

Students at Manchester Metropolitan University will teach young people in the UK and Europe about the importance of sustainable and climate-friendly food consumption as part of a £5.2m EU project FoodWAVE.

MetMUnch ­– an award-winning student-led social enterprise based at the University, promoting sustainable eating and nutrition ­­– will host a mix of online and outdoor public engagement events in Manchester to increase knowledge and awareness on sustainable food consumption and production for improving climate change.

The MetMUnch team will produce educational materials, online and offline discussion forums, films and social media campaigns aimed at young people aged between 15 and 35-years-old.

The team will also share its resources with 16 other European countries. 

They hope to be the catalyst in developing a new system going forward in which food is produced and consumed in a way that is affordable, healthy and good for the planet.

‘Pushing the planet to its limit’

Haleh Moravej, founder of MetMUnch and Senior Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “Food is at the heart of many of the world’s environmental, social and economic challenges. The issues – from soil health to public health – are complex and cannot be solved in isolation. As it stands, the way we produce and consume food is pushing the planet and its systems to the limit.

“For the last 10 years we have been working, training and nurturing MetMUnch students from all Manchester Met faculties to raise their confidence, creativity, employability and sustainability awareness alongside our colleagues in the Environment Team.

“Woking with Manchester Climate Change Agency will celebrate and showcase what is possible when students are given the opportunity to work in partnership and through authentic mentorship to grow and thrive, engage in action research while at the university.

“Students will be given a European platform to drive positive and forward-thinking activism through education in tackling climate change. The FoodWAVE project will give our students the wonderful opportunity to link up with millions of passionate and motivated young people from across Europe.”

Climate-friendly food consumption

Manchester and London were chosen as the UK’s hosts and MetMUnch will work with Manchester Climate Change Agency (MMCA), which is leading on the project for Manchester, in conjunction with Groundwork and Sow the City ­– charities working to build a healthier city.

The FoodWAVE project aims to reach 15 million people to help them understand the importance of climate-friendly food consumption, urban food-system models and related policy impacts, as well as pro-environment food consumption.

Jonny Sadler, Programme Director for the MCCA, said: "The consumption and disposal of food in Manchester is responsible for a significant proportion of the city's CO2 emissions. That's why Manchester's climate change strategy commits us to transforming our food system. We've also committed to place young people at the heart of the city's action on climate change. 

“The EU FoodWAVE projects brings these three elements together – food, young people and climate change. The project gives us a huge opportunity to enable Manchester's young people to drive the changes to the city's food system that we need to ensure it works in the interests of our environment, people and local businesses. We're delighted to be working with MetMUnch on FoodWAVE and looking forward to realising our aim to bring forward some of the next generation of the city's climate leaders."

Manchester Metropolitan University is a leading university for sustainability, winning awards for its initiatives and has ranked in the top three of the People and Planet University League has now maintained a top three position for the past six People and Planet rankings.

FoodWAVE is a European Union-funded project from the Development Education and Awareness-Raising, which aims to raise public awareness of development issues and promote development education among European Citizens.

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