By Big3Africa News Desk
Kenya’s Kisumu City and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania have stepped into the global spotlight as key champions in a new worldwide effort to cut food waste and reduce climate-warming methane emissions.
The initiative, known as the Food Waste Breakthrough, was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and aims to halve global food waste by 2030.
While the plan is global, African cities are expected to play a critical role in proving that real solutions can come from the ground up.
Kisumu and Dar es Salaam were named among a group of global “City Champions” responsible for testing new ideas, mobilising communities, and demonstrating how cities can reduce food waste in practical, locally driven ways.
They join cities such as Milan, Paris, Mexico City, Bangkok, and Rio de Janeiro in shaping what could become one of the world’s most effective climate solutions.
For Africa, where food losses often happen in markets, during transport, or in homes due to lack of storage and refrigeration, the initiative offers a chance to transform how cities handle food and prevent tonnes of it from ending up in dumpsites.
Each year, the world wastes over one billion tonnes of food. This food waste is responsible for nearly 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and up to 14 per cent of methane emissions. Methane is especially dangerous, heating the atmosphere 84 times faster than carbon dioxide over 20 years.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said the damage caused by wasted food can no longer be ignored: “The world wastes an unforgivable amount of food each year, in every country, rich and poor. Reducing this food waste is key to addressing hunger and cutting methane emissions from landfills.”
Both Kisumu and Dar es Salaam face challenges that are familiar across African cities including rapid population growth, informal markets, limited cold storage, and rising food prices.
As champions in the Food Waste Breakthrough, Kisumu will pilot community-led innovations in food storage, public awareness campaigns, and partnerships with local markets to reduce waste at source while Dar es Salaam will focus on improving waste collection systems and strengthening local recycling and composting initiatives to keep organic waste out of landfills.
Both cities will have access to global expertise, technical support, and potential funding under the initiative.
The initiative includes two major funding streams of A US$3 million four-year global project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to help developing countries scale up food waste reduction efforts. There is also a US$5 million challenge fund, which will support 20–25 youth- and city-led innovations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
This opens the door for Kisumu and Dar es Salaam to secure financial backing for community projects, ranging from smarter market designs to digital tools that track food losses.
GEF’s CEO, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, said reducing food waste offers a quick and affordable way to curb emissions: “Addressing food waste through prevention and behavioural change is not only cost-effective climate action but a path to sustainable living.”
Climate scientists warn that methane emissions from food waste could double by 2050 if nothing changes. COP30 Climate High-Level Champion Dan Ioschpe said the world must act now: “By uniting governments, cities, businesses, and communities to halve food waste by 2030, we can cut methane and move towards a future where food shortage and waste are history.”
For many African households, throwing away food is not a common habit. Yet large amounts of food are still lost along the journey from farm to market, or spoil due to poor handling and storage.
Kisumu and Dar es Salaam are expected to show how cities can tackle these challenges through simple, practical, and community-driven solutions.
