FAO and climate change
For FAO’s member states and governing bodies the significance of climate change issues was also reflected strategically in the 2009 FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) session, where a number of members shared information and experiences regarding climate change and fisheries and aquaculture and in particular indicated the need for:
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department’s programme to address climate change
The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, along with the Global Partnership Climate, Fisheries and Aquaculture (PaCFA), support raising awareness on these issues to promote a coordinated response from the fisheries and aquaculture sector to climate change, notably through a strategic approach to maintain or enhance the health and resilience of global oceans and waters, and strengthening the capacity of dependent people and communities, integrating these closely into broader development strategies.
Last December, government leaders, negotiators, scientists and NGOs, among others, met at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban(known as COP-17) to find agreement on the challenges of climate change – including its implications for fisheries and aquaculture, oceans and aquatic ecosystems.
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department participated in several key COP-17 events and will continue to participate in upcoming meetings, discussions and fora on global climate change.
Implementing adaptation and mitigation pathways for communities dependent on fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic ecosystems will need increased attention from policy-makers and planners. Sustainable and resilient aquatic ecosystems benefit not only the fishers and coastal communities but also provide goods and services at national and global levels, for example, through improved food security and conservation of biodiversity.
In the light of the foregoing a strategic approach and programme framework is defined below and is in turn aligned with the Department’s strategic and organizational objectives for the sector. It is also linked with the PaCFA framework, which provides an overarching structure for wider partnership-based development goals associated with climate change, fisheries and aquaculture.
The goal of the programme is to enable people, communities and states to meet their social and development objectives effectively while responding to the additional challenges imposed by climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.
The purpose of the programme is to support member states and partners to mitigate and adapt effectively to the impacts of climate change for fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic ecosystems, through policy development, knowledge development and exchange, normative outputs, practical demonstration, and capacity building.
The key operational objectives outputs and proposed activities of the programme for the 2011-2016 period are to: