ZERO Summit 2021| ScholarsofSustenance

Encoring the motion for
necessary steps toward a better Thailand

ZERO SUMMIT 2022 is a sustainable summit focusing on two pillars: Food Waste and Food Insecurity. Thank you so much for joining us and taking all the necessary steps to REGENERATING and RECOVERING. Join us to learn how Thailand can take a progressive step towards a sustainable society by 2030!

Explore What Happened

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SOS Awards

Recap

OPENING CEREMONY

Ms. Gita Sabharwal

The UN Resident Coordinator

Open Address

It's our great honor to invite Ms. Gita Sabharwal, the UN Resident Coordinator, United Nations Thailand gave an opening remark at this year's Zero Summit. Ms. Gita spoke about the power of the new generation in creating change for sustainability. Especially the issue of food waste and food insecurity which need serious action as the world population just hit 8 billion. She would love to see the SOS model replicated in other regions.

Mr. Bo H Holmgreen

Founder and CEO of SOS

Welcome Address

Mr. Bo Holmgreen, Founder and CEO of Scholars of Sustenance Foundation, officially welcomed all the distinguished guests. Mr. Bo told a story about the beginning of the foundation. He himself saw a lot of food that was unfortunately thrown away. But on the other hand, there are still people who are hungry and want access to good quality food. That’s why we want to close the gap between surplus food and people in need.

Mr. James Leyson

Managing Director SOS TH and PH

SOS's Journey

Mr. James Leyson, Managing Director of Scholars of Sustenance Thailand and Philipines talked about SOS's journey including the next vision of the foundation to address the problem of food waste and food equality. Firstly, we targeted to achieve 25 million meals by 2025 but with the cooperation of everyone, we already made it this year! So we set a new goal of 40 million meals that we intend to achieve by 2025.

PANEL 1: Decoding the Food Bank Initiative, a lesson to learn for Thailand

In this section, we learned about the experience of establishing the National Food Bank from the National Food Bank of South Korea as well as other participants who are representatives from the Thai government who have discussed the possibility of establishing a food bank. Including various policies and requirements that the government should support both buildings a network of donors and communities, issuing tax deductions, creating a storage base, and comprehensive transportation planning. At this time, SOS has worked with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in the BKK Food Bank project to deliver food to communities in 10 districts of Bangkok.

PANEL 2: Systematizing Food Surplus Donation - A Solution for Sustainable Development

It's undeniable that the business sector has to produce more food than market demand to ensure product availability but when those foods cannot be sold out what can be done is to throw away those things. But after the business learned about the work of SOS, they were convinced to deliver the surplus food to us to deliver to communities in need. The panelists of this session shared their experiences working with SOS and their confidence in us in terms of food safety and our surplus food management system.

PANEL 3: Regenerative Food and Innovative Youth Forum

In this topic, we have opened the opportunity for new generations who desire to see a change to share their business experiences that support the restoration of the food system. The idea that each person has left is about creating an impact that comes from the belief and collective actions, including how to make customers participate in creating sustainability together with us.

PANEL 4: Post-Covid-19 Recovery for Food Services and Communities

In this panel, we invite restaurant entrepreneurs, a chef and a community representative to participate in this discussion. Each of them shared about the challenges they had to face during COVID-19 that forced many of them to change their business strategies. The communities also were equally affected by unemployment and lack of income. But in a crisis, there is always an opportunity. Restaurants and hotels created and owned more sales channels while the communities themselves have been grouped together to be stronger as they were able to earn more income from alternative channels.

Surplus Food Cooking Demonstration

The final highlight of Zero Summit 2022 was a demonstration of cooking from surplus ingredients. We were honored by famous hotel chefs to join us in cooking. Cooking this time created a huge challenge for the chef. Because the chefs were not known in advance what surplus ingredients our Food Rescue Ambassadors brought to them. Although this cooking was challenging, all the chefs showed their extraordinary skills and used those surplus ingredients best.

Video

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SOS Awards

SOS AWARDS

There are many remarkable partnerships that have been cooperating with SOS throughout the years. We appreciate all the efforts and projects that contribute to our society for a better future. It is an honor to work with you all.