METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL FOR MONITORING SDG TARGET 12.3. SUB-INDICATOR 12.3.1.A THE FOOD LOSS INDEX DESIGN, DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND CHALLENGES

The Sustainable Development target 12.3 states “By 2030, to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.” The defined target distinguishes the supply side of the food chain from the retail and consumption stages, and sets different objectives: an unspecified reduction of food losses and a 50% reduction of food waste. The measurement methods differ greatly for the production and consumption stages and methodological development has taken two separate paths accordingly. For these reasons, the custodian agencies, FAO and UNEP, recommend that an additional sub-indicator 12.3.1.b on Food Waste be formally considered for the 2020 comprehensive review of the Global Indicator Framework. By acknowledging that an additional sub-indicator can only be approved in 2020, FAO and UNEP recommend that in the meanwhile the target be monitored with two separate sub-indicators 12.3.1.a Food Loss Index and 12.3.1.b Food Waste Index and that these be considered for upgrade separately. In this light, the FAO developed a Food Loss Index (FLI) monitoring Food Losses on a global level for a basket of key commodities in the food systems, including crops, livestock, and fisheries products. The index focuses on the supply stages of food chains and measures changes in percentage losses over time. The purpose of the index is to allow for policy makers to look at the positive and negative trends in food loss compared to a baseline year, in order to improve the food supply system efficiency against food losses. This paper delves into the rationale of the index design and then presents the various elements of the methodology. The paper starts with the definitional framework and scope of the index, it illustrates the rationale for estimating losses as the percentage of food quantities removed from the supply chain. It illustrates the commodities basket, their selection criteria, the compilation of the index weights and the steps for calculating the index. The final section of the paper summarizes FAO’s two pronged approach to food loss data. The long-term approach is to support countries in collecting food loss data using the Global Strategy Guidelines and recommendations to develop loss surveys along the value chain. The second approach, applicable in the short term, is to assist countries in estimating food losses using model-based estimates within the Food Balance Sheets framework to fill the data gaps. For this, a high level description of the loss imputation model developed by FAO and used at international level will be provided.