At the opening day of the FOODPathS Festival, Esteban Arriaga, FEBA CEO, delivered a presentation on “Accessibility and Affordability as Pillars of a Resilient Food System” during the session “The Framework Around: the SFS Partnership Prototype into a Context.”
His speech, rooted in FEBA’s decades-long experience addressing food insecurity across Europe, focused on the need to recognize Food Banks as essential actors in sustainable food systems, not only in social terms, but also for their environmental and economic contributions. Esteban Arriaga emphasised how Food Banks exemplify circularity, fight food waste, and bridge gaps in food access for vulnerable communities.
Key themes in his presentation included:
- The intersection of poverty, social exclusion, and food access in Europe;
- The environmental stewardship role of Food Banks;
- Practical approaches to accessibility and affordability;
- The social return on investment (SROI) from food redistribution initiatives.
Esteban Arriaga concluded with a call to action: urging stakeholders to integrate Food Banks into national and EU-level sustainability frameworks, scale up cross-sector partnerships, and align climate goals with social inclusion strategies.
Recordings of all event sessions are available here.
