11:00 – 12:15 (CEST) | Side Event Room 2 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS); Korea Maritime Institute (KMI); and the WorldFish center are jointly organizing the side event on Aquaculture for sustainable aquatic food: The role of partnerships at the UN Ocean Conference.

Aquaculture offers opportunities for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 14) and the 2030 Agenda. 

• Aquaculture accounts for half the aquatic foods we eat and offers great potential for sustainably feeding and nourishing the world’s growing population.
• The sector offers growing opportunities to support millions of livelihoods, including women, youth and indigenous communities, many in developing countries and with limited opportunities in other sectors.
• Harnessing technological innovation, promoting pro-investment policies, ensuring adequate biosecurity and disease controls, and raising awareness of their benefits are vital to ensure that aquaculture provides growing economic and employment opportunities, and health benefits where they are needed most. 
• Africa, home to less than 3 percent of the world’s aquaculture production, offers an ocean of opportunity to sustainably develop the sector.

In 2018, aquaculture accounted for 48 percent of the total fishery and aquaculture production and 52 percent of fish available for human consumption. To feed an ever-growing human population, expected to reach almost 10 billion people by 2050, aquaculture development needs to continue its expansion while becoming more sustainable.

The aquaculture sector demands new, sustainable, and equitable development strategies. The private sector will remain the main actor in aquaculture production, and substantial public sector support and strong leadership will also be necessary with input and guidance from government and civil society playing essential roles in regulating aquaculture, and in supporting and promoting citizens’ views, participation and benefits. 

This side event will present key regional aquaculture development priorities, opportunities, and challenges, as well as highlight interlinkages between relevant sustainable development goals and implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The event will also increase awareness of two major global partnership platforms to promote sustainable aquatic food production, particularly through science-based solutions.