Opportunities and trade-offs for climate-smart blue foods in global food systems
ID:847 Oral (invited)

2025-01-14 10:10 (China Standard Time)

Session:Session 61-Advancing Blue Food Futures Towards Ocean Conservation and Global Resilience

Abstract
National and international climate strategies need to identify actions that can both maintain food system resilience in a changing climate and transition them towards net-zero emissions. The Blue Food Assessment showed that many blue food species can be produced with carbon footprints that are lower than terrestrial animal-source foods. It also highlighted the many ways in which climate change places blue food contributions at risk, especially in already vulnerable countries across Africa, South and South-East Asia, the Indo-Pacific and Small Island Developing States. However, within the large diversity of blue food species, actors, production methods, and socio-political contexts, much is still unknown about the opportunities and limitations for mitigation and adaptation. Here we present findings from a scoping literature review documenting the potential, evidence strength, and feasibility of 12 mitigation and 12 adaptation solutions in blue food systems. Solutions exist from farm/boat to food system to ecosystem scale. We discuss trade-offs and synergies between mitigation and adaptation objectives, as well as with other sustainable development outcomes, such as nutrition, equitable livelihoods, and biodiversity. Our results support evidence-based development of national climate strategies for and through blue foods, yet highlight a need for quantification and verification of mitigation and adaptation effectiveness.
Keywords
climate change,climate adaptation,climate mitigation,blue foods,sustainable development
Speaker
Michelle Tigchelaar
Researcher, WorldFish

Author
Michelle Tigchelaar WorldFish
Aleah Wong University of British Colombia
Malin Jonell Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics
Max Troell Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics
Colette Wabnitz Stanford University