Mayor of Kraków signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact
Our city has joined 240 metropolises from 74 countries that recognize the importance of creating a sustainable urban food systems. Joining the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) will enable, among, others future development of Kraków food policy based on the rules of green procurement and delivery executed by municipal institutions. Creating a city farm for Krakowians is planned to be the next step.
On 27th June 2024 Mayor Aleksander Miszalski signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The Pact was initiated in Milan in 2015 as the legacy of the EXPO theme “Feeding the planet, energy for life”.
“We would like to develop Krakow`s policy in that regard. I am aware how important it is for the inhabitants of our city, also in the light of climate changes and care for natural environment. Krakowians demonstrate their everyday involvement by, among others, participating in the “Edible Kraków” project, co-creating community gardens, and the youngest citizens of our city tend the school vegetable gardens started within the frame of the “Classy garden” project. It is time now for taking further steps, such as supporting local farmers, modernisation of the city outdoor food markets, preventing food waste and subsequently promoting a healthy lifestyle and healthy food accessibility” – says Mayor Miszalski.
The main goal of MUFPP is learning from other cities and exchanging experience in food management, its production, delivery and distribution to, for example, municipal institutions and also cutting down the waste of food as well as managing and reducing the quantity of food waste.
Signing the Milan Pact we are learning from the experience and expertise of such metropolises as London, New York, Buenos Aires or Tokyo. I would like to underline that strategically it is not only a declaration but, most of all, a pledge of commitment in taking care of the climate issues that we, as a city, take for the sake of future generations – said Deputy Mayor of Kraków Stanislaw Mazur.
Kraków is already been, for many years, taking actions in the areas specified in the Milan Pact, supporting urban gardening, educating citizens about the significance of healthy diet, preventing food waste and promoting the local provenance of food. Still, there are also other challenges to address in the future, like supporting local farmers by modernisation and further development of the city outdoor food markets and introduction of green public tender procedures, utilising and managing agricultural land in Kraków as a natural safety buffer for food security in case of crisis situation.
The changing reality including the prognosis for 2030 saying that 70 percent of people on Earth will live in cities and the progressing climate changes make more and more cities think seriously about food safety issues . The effect of this approach is the food policy they develop.
