Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Felix Marttin, Devin Bartley, and Gerd Marmulla, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO of the UN

Scope

The description of the future analysis by the HLPE indicates that it will: “focus its analysis on water for agricultural production and food processing, taking into account gender-related aspects. More specifically the HLPE could, from a food security perspective, assess the impacts of water management practices on food security, including water usage for agricultural production, food processing and other ways of consumption.”

We would like to draw attention to the fact that inland fisheries are vital in the livelihoods and food security of often marginalized people, with often limited alternative sources for support. The subject of the proposed study (Water and Food Security) points therefore to the inclusion of this sector. The (mostly small scale) fishing communities are among the poorest and most afflicted with social ills, and may be further marginalized by a failure to recognize the role of inland fisheries in support of food security and livelihoods.

The importance of the inland fisheries sector to food security and livelihoods is often overlooked by Governments, policy makers, and other organizations, as, because of the marginalized nature of much of the sector, information on the sector is scarce. Production and its value are often underestimated. The WorldBank (2012) estimates that inland fisheries have a yearly catch of around 14 million tons, valuing around USD 9 billion, without any waste due to discards; however this estimate does not include subsistence fishers, who may harvest many millions of tons. In fact, several studies suggest that catches are probably largely underreported. For example, it has been reported that the officially reported catches from the Mekong basin need to be increased by a factor of about three to match reality (Van Zahlinge et al., 2004, and Hortle (2007) in: Welcomme, 2011).

61 million people are employed in inland fisheries worldwide, of which 60 million in the developing world. 65% of the reported catch from inland fisheries is caught in low-income food-deficit countries. Over 200 million of Africa’s 1 billion people regularly consume fish and nearly half of this comes from inland fisheries (UNEP 2010). Whereas fish consumption is increasing in most of the world, in many parts of Africa per capita consumption of inland fish is decreasing due to over-fishing and habitat degradation.

Inland fisheries provides affordable high quality animal protein to local and domestic markets, and has a significant impact on food security. With this stated importance in mind we would like to request the HLPE to not overlook the inland fisheries sector in its analysis.

Building blocks

We note the building blocks of the analysis, and in general we believe that these building blocks give adequate opportunity to investigate Water and Food security, and to come up with policy recommendations in this regard. However, some of the building blocks’ descriptions have triggered us to make the following comments;

Water use for health nutrition and food security – global and regional trends

Water is “an essential input for agricultural production, food processing, preparation and cooking of food”.

We would like to propose a revision of the above sentence into: Water is “an essential input for agricultural production, capture fisheries, aquaculture, food processing, preparation and cooking of food”

If water is managed appropriately, inland fisheries can be productive, while that same water can be used as an input in agriculture production, food processing, etc. We would expect that there are other, non-excluding uses of water (allowing the same water to be used by other sectors after usage). Trade-offs between sectors may be necessary but win-win situations could be envisioned. This phenomenon of non-exclusive water use might be investigated in the study as well.

Management of water for food and nutrition security: impacts, sustainability and resilience

Water management

Fish has not been mentioned in this section, while the commodity is of utmost importance for people’s food security, as a source of affordable animal protein and trace elements. Water can and should be managed for multiple uses including supporting capture fisheries. We would like to request the inclusion of this sector in the study (including with respect to the mentioned water footprint).

There is no mention of participation of the previously identified actors in the policy/management plan development process. This might be an issue to consider. One of the results of the study might be that groups with weaker capacity might not be able to participate fully in the processes, and it would be interesting to see what kind of recommendations the HLPE would develop to address this issue.

Water governance impacts & emerging issues

We note that fisheries is not mentioned as an activity with respect to livelihoods and food/water security. We would like to repeat our call to the HLPE not to overlook the inland fisheries sector for the abovementioned arguments.

References

Hortle, K.G., 2007. Consumption and the yield of fish and other aquatic animals form the Lower Mekong Basin. MRC Technical paper 16. Vientiane, Mekong River Commission. 87 pp.

World Bank. 2012. Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries. Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11873.

UNEP 2010. Blue Harvest: Inland Fisheries as an Ecosystem Service. WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia. http://www.unep.org/pdf/Blue_Harvest.pdf

Van Zalinge, N., Degen, P., Pongsri, C., Nuov, S., Jensen, J.V. Nguyen, H. & Choulamany, X., 2004. The Mekong River System. In: R.L. Welcomme & T. Petr, eds. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, Volume II. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. FAO RAP Publication 2004/17.

Welcomme, R. Review of the Status of the World Fishery Resources: Inland Fisheries. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 942, Rev. 2. Rome, FAO. 2011. 97 pp.