Climate action through reducing food loss and waste: Lessons from Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal

Srivastava, Nandita; Babu, Suresh Chandra; and Anowar, Md. Sadat. 2024. Climate action through reducing food loss and waste: Lessons from Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal. Agrilinks Blog Post available September 9, 2024. https://agrilinks.org/post/climate-action-through-reducing-food-loss-and-waste-lessons-bangladesh-malawi-and-nepal

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is crucial to improving food security, reducing malnutrition, providing livelihoods for food system workers, and is key to combating climate change. Overall, food systems contribute an estimated 33 percent to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; food waste alone is responsible for eight to 10 percent. Yet, most countries that have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for reducing carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement have not included any commitments for reducing FLW. Many national FLW policies are not aligned with climate change goals and the NDCs. To make this bridge, countries must build supportive regulatory frameworks to reduce agrifood system emissions and include FLW as a mitigation measure.

From April to June 2024, the USAID-funded Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI), through its Asia program led by the International Food Policy and Research Institute, held national level consultations in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Nepal on FLW management.