6 February 2009: Climate change could lead to unprecedented hardship for many fishery-dependent poor countries according to a study conducted by a team of researchers at the WorldFish center, a research center supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and a number of other research institutions.

The study, which was published in the February 2009 issue of the journal Fish and Fisheries, examined the vulnerability of 132 countries’ economies, based on environmental, fisheries, dietary and economic factors. The authors find that countries in which fishing plays a large role in diet, income and trade, and that lack capacity to adapt, are most vulnerable to climate change impacts on fisheries, such as coral reef loss, salinization of freshwater habitats and costal storms. The study identifies 33 countries as highly vulnerable, 19 of which are least developed countries, including: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, Guinea, Malawi, Pakistan, Peru, Senegal, Uganda, and Yemen.
WorldFish’s director of policy, economics and social science Edward Allison underlined the importance of identifying these vulnerable countries. He called on international institutions like the World Bank to include the fishing sector in climate adaptation planning for the poor. He also stressed the need for further research, noting that the study does not cover some potentially highly vulnerable countries such as small island States and countries in which a large part of the population depends on subsistence fishing, due to lack of adequate data. [WorldFish Press Release] [Article Abstract] [Article Extracts]