11 December 2009: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released a collection of three technical papers that present an overview of knowledge on “Climate Change and Implications for Fisheries and Aquaculture.”
The studies address: the physical and ecological consequences of climate change on marine and freshwater environments; impacts on fisheries and local communities with a focus on adaptation and mitigation measures; and impacts on aquaculture with a review of potential adaptation and mitigation measures. They highlight that fisheries and aquaculture make a minor, but still significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions throughout the sectors’ supply chain. The report notes that ecosystem approaches to aquaculture and fisheries, as well as precautionary management, can help improve the resilience of the sectors. It calls for the integration of fisheries and aquaculture into national climate change and food security policies.
The report was published further to the request of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the FAO to facilitate discussions for an Expert Workshop on fisheries and climate change. The studies were performed in cooperation with WorldFish Centre, a member of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), as well as a number of universities and non-governmental organizations.[FAO Press Release][The Report]