Kate Alyssa Caton BS Public Health 200956213

Reaction Paper: FOOD SECURITY

Fisheries and aquaculture play important roles in providing food and income in many developing countries, either as a stand-alone activity or in association with crop agriculture and livestock rearing. The aim of this paper is to identify how these contributions of fisheries and aquaculture to poverty reduction and food security can be enhanced while also addressing the need for a sustainability transition in over-exploited and over-capitalized capture fisheries, and for improved environmental performance and distributive justice in a rapidly growing aquaculture sector. The focus of the paper is on the poverty and food security concerns of developing countries, with an emphasis on the least developed. It is therefore most relevant to the OECD states roles as donors, signatories to multilateral agreements relevant to fisheries and food security, and as trading partners with developing countries. The emphasis is on food security rather than poverty reduction policies and strategies, although the two are of course related. The food security agenda is very much to the fore at present; fish prices rose along with other food prices in 2007-8 and as fish provide important nutritional benefits to the poor, food security has become a primary concern for sector policy. After examining the evolving food security policy context, the paper articulates pathways linking the fisheries sector with poverty reduction and food security. The main analytical section then examines: 1. The poverty and food security implications of a restructuring of global fisheries to improve sectoral economic performance, through capacity reduction and rights-based management. 2. The links between domestic food security and policies to increase fish exports from both capture fisheries and aquaculture, to contribute to GDP growth. 3. The relative benefits to food security from policies favouring the development of small-scale and larger-scale aquaculture. Finally, recommendations are made to ensure that fisheries sector policy reform supports the need to sustainably reduce levels of poverty and hunger, not just among those employed in the sector, but among populations of developing countries where fisheries and aquaculture are important sources of revenue and food.