The food the world wastes accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country except for China and the United States， the United Nations said in a report entitled The Food Wastage Footprint.

Every year about a third of all food for human consumption， around 1.3 billion tons， is wasted， along with all the energy， water and chemicals needed to produce it and dispose of it.

Almost 30 percent of the worlds farmland， and a volume of water equivalent to the annual discharge of the River Volga， are in effect being used in vain.

In its report， the FAO estimated that the carbon footprint of wasted food was equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year.

If it were a country， it would be the worlds third biggest emitter after China and the United States， suggesting that more efficient food use could contribute substantially to global efforts to cut greenhouse gases to limit global warming.

In the industrialized world， much of the waste comes from consumers buying too much and throwing away what they do not eat. In developing countries， it is mainly the result of inefficient farming and a lack of proper storage facilities.

“Food wastage reduction would not only avoid pressure on scarce natural resources but also decrease the need to raise food production by 60 percent in order to meet the 2050 population demand，”the FAO said.

It suggested improving communication between producers and consumers to manage the supply chain more efficiently， as well as investing more in harvesting， cooling and packaging methods.

It also said consumers in the developed world should be encouraged to serve smaller portions and make more use of leftovers. Businesses should give surplus food to charities， and develop alternatives to dumping organic waste in landfill.

The FAO estimated the cost of the wasted food， excluding fish and seafood， at about $750 billion a year， based on producer prices.

The wasted food consumes about 250 cubic km of water and takes up about 1.4 billion hectares—much of it diverse natural habitat that has been cleared to make it arable.

聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織（FAO）發(fā)布題為《糧食浪費足跡》的報告稱，全球糧食浪費產(chǎn)生的溫室氣體排放，超過中國和美國以外其他任何國家的排放量。

全球每年約有1/3的糧食被浪費，浪費量大約為13億噸。與此同時，生產(chǎn)和處理糧食所需的能源、水和化學(xué)制品也被浪費。

全球幾乎有30%的農(nóng)田和相當(dāng)于俄羅斯伏爾加河年流量的水資源被白白消耗。

聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織在報告中預(yù)測，糧食浪費產(chǎn)生的碳足跡，相當(dāng)于每年排放33億噸二氧化碳。

如果把糧食浪費造成的碳排放看成一個國家，那么則是繼中國和美國之后的全球第三大溫室氣體排放國。這表明更有效地使用糧食，將能為減少溫室氣體排放以抑制氣候變暖做出巨大貢獻。

在工業(yè)發(fā)達國家，多數(shù)糧食浪費與消費者購買太多食物、把沒吃的食物扔掉有關(guān)。在發(fā)展中國家，農(nóng)業(yè)效率低且缺乏適當(dāng)?shù)拇鎯υO(shè)施，是造成糧食浪費的主要原因。

“減少浪費食物，不僅能避免因稀缺的自然資源減少產(chǎn)生的壓力，還能減輕需要提高糧食生產(chǎn)水平60%才能滿足2050年的人口需求的壓力?！甭?lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織稱。

報告建議提高生產(chǎn)者和消費者之間的溝通，更有效地管理供應(yīng)鏈，以及更多地投資于收獲、冷卻和包裝方法。

該報道還說，在發(fā)達國家的消費者應(yīng)鼓勵、服務(wù)弱勢群體，更多地利用剩余糧食。企業(yè)應(yīng)該捐給慈善機構(gòu)剩余食品，開發(fā)替代食品以及有機廢物倒入垃圾填埋場。

聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織估算，基于生產(chǎn)者價格，不包括魚和海鮮，一年所浪費糧食的經(jīng)濟損失約為7500億美元。

被浪費的糧食所消耗的水約2.5億方，耕地約1.4億公頃——其中大部分是已被破壞的多樣化的自然生態(tài)棲息地。