Fish and other aquatic foods are critical components of strategies to deliver healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems and are centrally important to food system decision-making. The 2021 United Nations (UN) Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) has been instrumental in building the international consensus that aquatic foods are centrally important to our food future. The UNFSS catalysed commitments, targets and coalitions to strive towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
To mobilize action towards the SDGs, the UN Ocean Conference intends to accelerate action for SDG 14: Life Below Water, with the overarching theme of “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: Stocktaking, partnerships, and solutions.”
Aquaculture’s vital role in healthy, sustainable diets
Role of collaboration and industry leadership
A Call to Action
The Call to Action, ultimately agreed upon by executives from over 30 aquaculture companies and organizations, responds to the UN’s call for ocean and freshwater action and represents the priorities and commitments of select industry leaders. Together, they recognized:
- The world’s need for more high-quality and environmentally-responsible sources
of protein, - The world’s need to ensure food is produced in efficient and environmentally
sound ways, - The world’s need for more equitable social outcomes of aquaculture,
- That while aquaculture has been growing, innovating and improving,
- Business as usual will not deliver the scale of change needed.
Learning and Sharing Experiences
1. Establish a learning and acceleration hub and related database to collect and encourage the wider use of proven models to scale sustainable aquaculture production, such as pre-competitive collaboration platforms, innovative financing systems and open platform technology sharing
2. Aggregate business case examples for breaking the ‘commodity trap’ to help support producers investing in sustainable products and inform market-specific regional opportunities, accounting for distinct cultures and business climates
Supporting Development of Future Regulation and Infrastructure
3. Develop a comprehensive white paper that describes the business case for aquaculture’s role in supporting healthy, sustainable diets and communities, and provides a framework for evolving and forward-looking regulatory regimes, needed infrastructure and other opportunity areas
4. Support evolution of forward-looking aquaculture regulatory systems to encourage environmentally- and socially-sustainable growth for the sector
5. Expand inclusive, sustainable financing opportunities to support growth – encouraging the flow of finance into sustainable aquaculture to promote food and nutrition staples for smallholders, women and youth at scale
6. Assess opportunities for pre-competitive collaborations in aquatic genetic resources, considering better aquatic animal nutrition, genetic improvement programs, regional focus and diversification
7. Create global and regional hubs and mechanisms for technology transfer on effective innovations and best practices to accelerate dispersion at scale, including underserved regions such as Africa
8. Communicate the role of aquaculture in supporting nutritious, resilient food systems more effectively by providing transparency to all stakeholders on the sector’s ongoing efforts to improve and deliver a responsible and healthy source of food
The aquaculture leaders who contributed to this Call to Action have committed to these action areas. In doing so, they commit to driving the sector’s sustainability forward at speed and scale. They recognize the need to encourage wider participation, particularly from underserved regions, and will continue to reach out and engage. A global leadership group of select executives will also convene to monitor progress and take necessary actions to ensure that change happens on the ground. We call on partners to join and collaborate with the aquaculture industry in achieving this vision.
We invite others from private sector to join us in this Call to Action. Email Sophie Ryan ([email protected]) and Aliesha Piggott ([email protected]) to get involved.
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