1472 / 2024-09-27 16:42:09

Opportunities and trade-offs for climate-smart blue foods in global food systems

climate change,climate adaptation,climate mitigation,blue foods,sustainable development

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.