A national first. A global challenge. The ne’ma-led baseline study is a crucial step toward long-term progress in the fight against food loss and waste.
Introduction: A Defining National Moment
For many years, conversations around food waste have relied on broad estimates, assumed behaviors, and fragmented data. For the first time, the UAE is taking a different path - one built on real, measurable evidence.
With the launch of the UAE Food Loss and Waste Baseline Study, the UAE is setting a precedent, regionally and globally. This is a foundational step in understanding the true scale of the challenge and a call to action for all sectors, from producers to consumers.
Why Baselines Matter
Lasting change starts with commitment to act. In climate action, the 1990 carbon baseline became the reference point for global commitments. In food systems, countries such as Denmark, Japan, and South Korea have used national baselines to reorient actions and transform awareness completely.
Baselines also clarify reality. They define hotspots of where food loss and waste is occurring the most. A starting point for creating lasting change. They enable progress tracking, uncover trends, and allow societies to respond with purpose. Most importantly, they signal intent. So people say: we are paying attention, we are taking responsibility, and we will act.
The UAE Food Loss and Waste Baseline Study accelerates progress towards ne’ma’s national mandate: to measure, understand, and reduce food loss and waste through collective effort. It shifts the UAE from estimation to evidence and from isolated efforts to coordinated national progress and scaling impact. It also supports the objectives of the National Food Security Strategy 2051 and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3, which aims to halve food loss and waste by 2030.
What Makes This Study Globally Distinct
Few countries have conducted a truly comprehensive, cross-sectoral national study on food loss and waste. Even fewer have succeeded in uniting public and private data across households, businesses, agriculture, hospitality, and institutions.
What the UAE is building is a map of the full system, capturing the nuances, pain points, and behaviors across every step of the food journey. That is what makes this moment globally rare and regionally historic.
International comparisons show how unique this is:
- In Japan, food loss and waste tracking began over two decades ago and took years to translate into national impact.
- In South Korea, advanced monitoring came only after deep structural changes.
- In the European Union, harmonized tools were developed, but consistent cross-country data remains a challenge.
The UAE Food Loss and Waste Baseline Study is an integrated, forward-looking initiative that aligns with the country's national sustainability goals. It is being implemented using internationally recognized methodologies, ensuring credibility both locally and globally.
Every Sector Has a Role
Food loss and waste occurs across the entire food value chain, and every sector has a part to play:
Households
Will open their homes to allow for direct measurement
of daily food waste, helping to reflect real habits, expectations, and awareness levels.
Retailers and food service providers
Will share operational data and insights into
ordering patterns, spoilage rates, and how customer behaviors influence food loss and waste.
Farms and suppliers
Will help identify loss points during production, harvesting , packaging, and distribution, showing how factors like climate and logistics impact outcomes.
Institutions and large organizations
Will provide access to data from canteens,
procurement systems, and back-of-house operations to assess large-scale food service practices.
By having all actors participate in measuring food loss and waste and sharing the actual data during a 14-day period from Sep 8 to Sep 21, the study will establish national indices. These indices will inform future infrastructure, guide action, spotlight innovation, support behavior change, and build the capacity to measure real impact over time.
Building Knowledge for the Future
The study will support data-driven action by decision-makers, communities, and businesses alike. This is not a one-time study. It is the beginning of a system that enables long-term measurable progress and shares results not only nationally, but internationally, contributing to global best practices.
Participation matters. Whether you contribute household data or engage your team, you are helping generate the insights that will shape the UAE’s food system and influence broader change and be part of a national movement that will go on to create the country’s national strategy.