Ottawa, Canada — December 6, 2023 — The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) issued a resolution to aid negotiators at COP28 as they advance the global effort to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts.
The resolution aims to inform negotiators on several issues including; (1) the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems and fish stocks; (2) the fisheries sector’s contribution to mitigating climate change and; (3) the commitment of the industrial fisheries sectors to an energy transition/decarbonisation.
“The fisheries sector contributes to the fight against climate change as fisheries products/blue foods have one of the lowest carbon footprints amongst animal proteins,” said ICFA Board Chair, Javier Garat. “Therefore, increasing the share of fisheries products/blue foods in the global diet will contribute significantly to lowering the carbon intensity of the global food system.”
The sector also facilitates achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as SDG 2 “Zero hunger”, SDG 3 “Good health and well-being”, SDG 12 “Responsible consumption and production”, SDG 13 “Climate action” and SDG 14 “Life below water”;
In its resolution ICFA:
- Calls on the COP 28 UNFCCC to take fully into consideration the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, fish stocks and economic activities at seas and to ensure that an ecosystem-based management of fisheries is put into place in order to include climate change in fisheries management;
- Highlights the utmost necessity to bring together policy makers and the economic sectors, including the fisheries sector, to find pragmatic and implementable solutions to tackle climate change and to adapt to its unavoidable effects;
- Calls on the COP 28 UNFCCC to recognise the importance of fisheries products/blue foods as a low carbon footprint source of proteins essential for a healthy diet that will contribute to achieving the global climate objectives;
- Recalls in that perspective, that the fisheries sector should be considered part of the solution in the fight against climate change;
- Highlights nonetheless that affordable, viable and adapted options for fuel alternatives are not yet available to the fisheries sector; therefore calls on the COP 28 UNFCCC to enable public and private investments for the energy transition/decarbonisation of the sector and help marketing scale-up existing decarbonisation innovations;
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The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations is a coalition of the national fish and seafood industry trade associations from the world’s major fishing nations. ICFA members are committed to the sustainable use of marine resources for their contribution to global food security.
