[{"bbox": [96, 151, 1135, 339], "category": "Text", "text": "(2020)³, the Circular Economy Action Plan (2020)⁴ and the EU Action Plan: 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil' (2021)⁵ as well as the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific (Green Transition priority area). It will also contribute to Sri Lanka's commitments under the 2021 updated National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the implementation of the National Policy on Sustainable Consumption and Production and more directly to SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production and SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure. The NDC revision process for Sri Lanka provided an opportunity to analyse the gender dimensions of mitigation and adaptation priorities."}, {"bbox": [96, 350, 1135, 458], "category": "Text", "text": "Target 12.3 of SDG 12 calls for halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level and reducing food loss along production and supply chains by 2030. The Action will contribute to SDG 5 on gender equality and the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III)⁶, and, particularly, to its thematic area of engagement “Addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition”."}, {"bbox": [96, 468, 1135, 788], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is part of the MIP priority area 1 – Green Recovery - and will contribute to specific objective 1: to support sustainable growth contributing to the transition to a low-carbon, resource efficient and circular economy, while promoting the conservation of biodiversity. It is part of the Team Europe Initiative and EU Member States (Germany, France and the Netherlands accompanied by their respective European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI)) and the EIB may provide complementary support. Through its Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) programme Germany will contribute directly to this Action with up to EUR 7 million. BMZ/GIZ also contributes to the improvement of the plastic cycle management through its DeveloPPP initiative Waste-to-value (EUR 2 million) working with large manufacturers. This initiative is complemented by an EU SWITCH Asia project in Sri Lanka managed by ACTED called PLASTICS, which is supporting more sustainable business and consumption practices. The EU is also funding two complementary interventions under AAP 2017 on agriculture sector modernisation (EUR 34 million) managed by the World Bank and FAO and a food safety project (EUR 10 million) managed by UNIDO/FAO and GIZ under AAP 2019."}, {"bbox": [85, 828, 322, 860], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 894, 234, 921], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 940, 1135, 1070], "category": "Text", "text": "Over the last 5 years, attempts of economic diversification, the move towards self-sufficiency and far-reaching import restrictions, have not delivered the results hoped for. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced dramatically income from tourism and remittances, and government decisions to cut taxes in 2019 and ban the use of all chemical fertilisers in April 2021, has exacerbated an already fragile fiscal position and led to inflation in the food sector."}, {"bbox": [96, 1084, 1135, 1271], "category": "Text", "text": "In May 2022, Sri Lanka entered a political and macro-economic and financial crisis with an unsustainable debt level (119% to GDP) and foreign currency exchange reserve shortages which led to a default on its external debt. In addition to the shortages of essential imported goods (fuels, fertilisers, medicines...), external factors such as the global commodity price increase on international markets leading to a staggering rise of inflation, partially due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and severe supply chain disruptions, has further exacerbated the crisis. The impact on the population is dire. Besides the shortages of fuel and medicines, some indicators already point to a looming food crisis."}, {"bbox": [96, 1282, 1135, 1390], "category": "Text", "text": "Although the EU and other development partners are responding to the food crisis in the short-term through humanitarian aid and adjustment of ongoing cooperation, there is an opportunity to support Sri Lanka to adopt a low-carbon, resource efficient and circular model for its economy, essential to build resilience, protect social wellbeing and mitigate the food crisis and other longer-term crisis (climate,...)."}, {"bbox": [96, 1401, 1135, 1482], "category": "Text", "text": "In this context, the Action can help to mitigate the impact of a food crisis by optimising access to food and minimise waste. Unused safe and edible surplus can be recycled, redistributed and reused through i.e. food banks. Other food waste can be used for agriculture purposes such as animal feed and organic fertilisers. At the same time"}, {"bbox": [85, 1549, 573, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ EUR-Lex -52020DC0381 - EN - EUR-Lex (europea.eu)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1573, 563, 1596], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ EUR-Lex - 52020DC0098 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1596, 563, 1620], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ EUR-Lex - 52021DC0400 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1620, 384, 1644], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1680, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 22"}]