Nairobi, 04 June, 2023 / 8:45 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic and Africa-based civil entities are among the organizations calling for the inclusion of seafood in the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security.
Proposed by the president of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security is a four-year climate action program on food security and agriculture.
In a statement, officials of various organizations including the Jesuit Conference for Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) say blue foods, which are a source of at least 20% animal protein for 3.3 billion around the world, are vulnerable to the effects of climate change like other food.
“We are writing to request that aquatic food production systems, or ‘blue foods’, be included in the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security, both in the elements of the work program and as a workshop topic,” they say in the statement published Monday, May 29.
They add that blue foods need to be included in the Sharm El-Sheikh joint work reporting and evaluation processes, and that there is a need to hold a workshop on blue foods.