15 June 2016
FAO Report Highlights Potential of Dryland Fisheries to Support Food Security and Nutrition
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Small-scale dryland fisheries resources have the potential to contribute to ending hunger and promoting local food security and nutrition, according to the report '‘Fisheries in the Drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa: Fish Come with the Rains,' by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).

The report documents the resilience of fish resources to climatic variability and identifies opportunities for designing and implementing policies and programmes to reduce food insecurity and conflicts in Africa's dryland environments.

fao_fisheries14 June 2016: Small-scale dryland fisheries resources have the potential to contribute to ending hunger and promoting local food security and nutrition, according to a report, titled ‘Fisheries in the Drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa: Fish Come with the Rains,’ published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). The report documents the resilience of fish resources to climatic variability and identifies opportunities for designing and implementing policies and programmes to reduce food insecurity and conflicts in Africa’s dryland environments.

The publication observes that dryland fisheries are often underestimated in livelihood importance and documents their critical role in providing micronutrients and protein to rural communities. Within this context, the report highlights the role of dryland fisheries in delivering blue growth in Africa. Such fisheries also have the potential to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly SDG 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture).

Water bodies form and disappear in short periods of time in dryland regions, with surface water fluctuating widely and some bodies of water appearing only once a decade, according to FAO. Climate trends also contribute to varying outputs from dryland fisheries, forcing these ecosystems to adapt to unpredictable precipitation. The report highlights two lakes—Lake Nagmi in Botswana and Lake Liambezi in Namibia—that were dry for over two decades, but now produce “outstanding fish yields.” Some dryland areas can produce four times the amount of fish as tropical lakes or reservoirs, the report finds.

Dryland areas “are often the most precarious in terms of their ability to support sustainable and equitable livelihoods at acceptable levels,” resulting in concentrated areas of poverty in dryland regions, the report stresses. Nearly fifty% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population lives in dryland areas, making livelihood strategies for this region crucial for the continent’s population.

Small-scale fisheries can provide an important buffer resource, according to the report. It suggests that dryland fisheries can complement crop and livestock activities to support resilient and diversified livelihoods, particularly in vulnerable, unpredictable environments.

To fully capture the benefits of dryland fisheries, the report recommends recognition of fisheries in dryland water management and food and nutrition policies. It further recommends, inter alia: introducing processing and storage facilities for fish; respecting rights to access resources in line with FAO Voluntary Guidelines; identifying options for reducing community and household exposure and sensitivity to adverse change or stress; identifying options to increase community and household capacity to respond to adverse changes. [FAO Press Release] [Publication: Fisheries in the Drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa: Fish Come with the Rains]

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