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Catholic, Africa Civil Entities Call for Seafood Inclusion in Global Climate Discussions

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. Credit: Fr. Bryan P. Galligan/Twitter

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. 

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“Considering the central role blue foods play in agriculture and food security, their vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change, and the potential for blue carbon solutions that have co-benefits for food security and sustainable development, the Sharm el-Sheikh joint work should hold a workshop on blue foods,” representatives of the civil and faith-based organizations say in the statement issued as a contribution to the June 5 to 15 Bonn Climate Change Conference

They add that the workshop could include subtopics on adaptation, decarbonizing production systems, small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, and nutrition-sensitive governance.

The representatives of the civil and faith-based organizations also call for engagement with UNFCCC processes that are already generating outcomes on blue foods. 

They say the Sharm El-Sheikh joint work could support the implementation of key messages from other UNFCCC processes.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.