Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

environmental risks and ecological scarcities. Its attributes include low carbon emissions, high resource use efficiency and social inclusiveness (UNEP, 2011). The greening of marine fisheries and aquaculture thus implies three main dimensions for future sector policy and investments: • ensuring that fish are harvested, grown and traded with efficient and sustainable use of natural resources, energy, capital and labour; • ensuring that the economic benefits from fisheries and aquaculture are equitably distributed and socially beneficial and • reducing the carbon footprint of the fishery and aquaculture sectors (including production, processing and trade) and pursuing opportunities to use coastal and marine ecosystems as carbon sinks.. and sustainabilityarelong-standingissues infisheries management and aquaculture development, while distributional issues are a matter of on- going debate in both capture fisheries and aquaculture and interest in low-carbon fisheries and aquaculture is a recent and rapidly evolving area of policy. An over-arching ‘green economy’ approach can thus bring coherence and purpose to these different strands of fishery governance and aquaculture development, and guide the efforts to increase the sectors’ contribution to sustainable development. The purpose of this chapter is to outline how greening small-scalemarinefisheries andcoastal aquaculture and mariculture will enhance their contribution to food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation in developing countries. It builds upon the message by the G77 and China to the Informal Interactive Thematic Debate of the UN General Assembly on “Green Economy: A pathway to sustainable development” stating: “…our considerations of the Green Economy should also encompass the recognition that marine, ocean, coastal and fisheries resources are the foundation of the economies of many developing countries, including SIDS and coastal States and represents a primary pathway to future sustainable growth and poverty eradication”. 2 What role do small-scale fisheries and aquaculture play? The small-scale fisheries and aquaculture sectors contribute to food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation by providing employment and generating income – both to local communities and at a national level – and by supplying food products with high nutrition Concern for economic efficiency

1 Introduction The fisheries sector – in particular small-scale fisheries and aquaculture – is important in the transition towards a green economy due to its interconnectivity with and reliance on aquatic ecosystems, and the potential for people employed in it to act as stewards of the wider marine environment to a larger extent than they already do. The importance of small-scale fisheries to food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation, particularly in thedevelopingworld, is becoming increasingly understood and appreciated (FAO, 2011b). However, a failure to adequately include the sector in national and regional development policies coupled with flawed natural resource governance systems and a lack of institutional capacity continue to limit and threaten its potential contributions to sustainable economic growth, rural development, and poverty reduction and (Béné, et al., 2007; FAO, 2009b). Aquaculture has been the fastest growing food production sector of the past 40 years and now supplies more than half of the world’s food fish. Excluding aquatic plants, aquaculture production reached 52.5 million tonnes representing a value of US$98.5 million in 2008 (FAO, 2010). The sector continues to grow and to play an important role in supplementing capture production and providing incomes. However, without proper management and responsible practices, aquaculture may have negative environmental, social and economic consequences that can jeopardize the sector’s valuable contribution to global well-being in the future (Naylor, et al. , 2009; FAO, 2010b; FAO, 2011b). UNEP defines a green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing

in a Blue World

World capture fisheries and aquaculture production Million tonnes

160

China World (excluding China)

120

80

40

0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2008

Source: FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2010.

20