UNEP convenes four Regional Food Waste Working Groups in Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and West Asia. The working groups, launched in 2021 following the inaugural publication of UNEP’s Food Waste Index Report, aim to support Member States in designing, funding, and implementing strategies to measure, reduce, and manage food waste in their country, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 of halving food loss and waste globally by 2030. Participants, representing over 25 countries across the four regions, come from public, private, academic, and associated sectors.
Within the Working Groups, UNEP hosts capacity-building workshops to provide training and share best practices on food waste measurement and reduction, as well as spotlight successful initiatives in each region to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and regional collaboration. Recent topics of workshops include Public-Private Partnerships, Consumer Behaviour Change, Transitioning to a Circular Food System, and Green Technologies for Food Waste Reduction.
Regional Highlights from the 2023 Workshop Series
Africa
Food waste is a topic of emerging interest in Africa. The Regional Working Groups brought together stakeholders from across the continent to support and drive forward food waste action. Presently, much of the activity is driven by non-state actors: researchers, NGOs, think tanks and businesses who see both a problem and an opportunity, with growing interest from government stakeholders in many cases.
Inspiring stories have been heard about food waste innovators across the continent. These include from South Africa, where the trailblazing South African Food Loss and Waste Initiative is growing and learning every year, adjusting the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to a South African context with the support of the South African government.
In Tanzania, dedicated researchers at the Moshi Co-operative University have been raising awareness of consumer food waste through their students, engaging shoppers at markets and through social and traditional media.
In Kenya, a growing ecosystem of circular economy businesses are providing collections and sorting of surplus and waste to redistribute edible food, recycle wastes into animal feed using insect farms and creating compost to protect and enhance the soil. These are just a few examples of the food waste strategies across different sectors, including government, academia, entrepreneurial ventures, and engaged citizens, in Africa.
Asia Pacific
In the large and diverse region of Asia Pacific, we find countries at every stage of the food waste ‘journey’. The Regional Working Groups brings together stakeholders from across Asia Pacific to support and drive forward action against food waste. Learning from these stakeholders who have been working on food waste for years – such as Japan, with its longstanding food waste recycling and reduction activities – and helping to advance the issue in countries where it is only now getting attention.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) play a crucial role in the Asia Pacific region, and the Working Group learned from the innovative efforts of the Australian Food Pact, which has been at the forefront of researching food waste causes and solutions, including opportunities for food ‘upcycling’ in Australia, a major food-producing and exporting nation.. In Indonesia, the agreement, GRASP 2030, is bringing together businesses around food waste reduction and redistribution, and has been raising awareness and behavioral change through the #Consumindful campaign. Raising awareness is something businesses can both support and benefit from, with startups such as Surplus in Indonesia and CHOMP in Hong Kong, supporting food service businesses to reduce their waste through discounted sales.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is a pioneering region for food waste awareness, showing enthusiasm and driving action. The Regional Working Groups brought together stakeholders from across LAC to share their insights, progress and ideas, and learn from one another.
In LAC, particularly in Latin America, the fight against food waste is being fought on multiple fronts. Firstly, governments are in many cases highly engaged, or are becoming increasingly interested over time. This includes in Uruguay, where a comprehensive strategy to prevent and reduce food loss and waste was launched by the government in 2023. Secondly, in academia, where researchers have been developing new insights on consumer behaviours and causes of food waste, as well as solutions – such as the opportunity to recycle food waste into animal feed using black soldier fly larvae. In addition, there are large ecosystems of food banks – such as those part of BAMX in Mexico – and entrepreneurs establishing startups to reduce food waste and support food redistribution, such as Goodmeal in Chile. With such a range of activity going on, one of the important jobs is coordination. Initiatives like #SinDesperdicio offer a platform to foster knowledge, innovation and support behavioral change across the region, and in-country examples such as the Costa Rican Food Loss and Waste Reduction Network show how coordination and collaboration can work within a country.
West Asia
Food waste has grown as a topic of interest across West Asia, and nothing encapsulated this more than the launch of the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action at COP28 in Dubai. The declaration included direct references to shifting to “more sustainable production and consumption approaches, by reducing food loss and waste”, food waste was widely being covered at COP28. This included events on the ne’ma national initiative for food loss and waste in the UAE, a thematic day on food loss and waste at the Food Systems Pavilion and a successful Green Ramandan initiative - led by Hilton with support from Winnow and UNEP, which culminated in a 62% food waste reduction in pilot hotels in 2023 and 74% in 2024.
