Global – Lobbying for a global blue foods mandate on agriculture and food security
Stakeholders from civil society and faith-based groups in the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar are lobbying for the inclusion of ‘blue foods’ in global climate discussions (UNFCCC). (Photo from FAO)
Building from the momentum that the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) initiated during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt when it led the Ecojesuit engagement in the summit, particularly on discussions relating to food security in the context of climate adaptation and mitigation, policy lobbying at the UNFCCC level on agroecology and food justice continues.
In collaboration with faith-based and civil society organizations and networks, a blue foods mandate for agriculture and food security calls for the inclusion of aquatic food production systems, or “blue foods”, in the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security (SSJW).
The submission is a contribution to the process of the 58th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB 58) or the Bonn Climate Change Conference on 5 to 15 June 2023. Stakeholders are invited to share views on possible program and workshop topics referred to in paragraphs 14 to 15.
The Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC), a Jesuit research and training institute in the Philippines, and an accredited non-government organization with observer status at the UNFCCC, accompanied the submission.
As stated in the submission, “(b)lue foods are a central consideration for climate action related to agriculture and food security…[providing] at least 20% of animal source protein for 3.3 billion people around the word.” However, aquatic food production is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change despite its significant contribution to climate mitigation, as featured in this article from Nature on the environmental performance of blue foods.
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