Sri Lanka, Sept. 26 -- As the global population nears 8.5 billion by 2030, the world still wastes 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually - enough to feed three billion people. Sri Lanka is no exception.

This crisis calls for urgent action, and increasingly, young people are emerging as catalysts for change says FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Vimlendra Sharan.

The traditional "take-make-use-discard" model has proved unsustainable. A shift toward circular approaches - refuse, regenerate, reuse, and redesign - is gaining global momentum

Closer to home, Sri Lanka offers a strong example of how traditional wisdom can be harmonized with modern education.

"The island's cultural values of resource sharing and waste minimizati...