Food waste fueling climate change, report finds

Food waste across the globe continues to fuel climate change, nature loss and pollution while hurting the global economy, a report by the United Nations has revealed.

The UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, which was launched last week, said it is important for countries to connect the fight against hunger and the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

The report, whose findings revealed that the toll of food loss on the global economy is estimated at roughly $1 trillion, reiterated that reducing food waste is an opportunity to reduce costs and tackle some of the biggest environmental and social issues of our time: climate change and food insecurity.

While making opening remarks at the webinar that launched the report, Dechen Tsering, acting director of the climate change division at the UNEP, said policy instruments such as tax rebates, waste collection fees and subsidies could be used to incentivize changes in business practices and consumer behavior.

In addition, better data on the cost of food waste and the environmental, economic, and social benefits of limiting food waste could help influence investors and consumers.

Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, said unnecessary waste is causing substantial costs to the climate and nature in addition to being a major development issue.

According to the report, as of 2022, only 21 countries had included food loss and waste reduction in their national climate plans, including China, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Cabo Verde and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, the number of people who are food insecure and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the Greater Horn of Africa rose to 74 million at the end of February, according to another report released on Friday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other agencies.

The international agencies said that the 2023 El Nino rains contributed to the rise in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the region. With wetter-than-normal conditions forecast over most parts of the region, specifically in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, during the 2024 March-May rainfall season, the situation may not improve.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

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