Maximizing the contribution of fish to human nutrition

Abstract

Hunger and malnutrition are the world's most devastating problems and are inextricably linked to poverty. A total of 842 million people in 2011-13, or around one in eight people in the world, were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life (FAO, IFAD and WFP 2013). The same report, The State of Food Insecurity in the World, notes that this is a slight improvement over the previous biennium but shows also that undernourishment and undernutrition coexist, where the quality of the diet does not allow for healthy growth and development. The challenges governments and international development communities need to address, given a global population that is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, much of it in developing countries prone to hunger, is to ensure both adequate food and nutrition security for all. It is widely acknowledged that fisheries has the capacity - if supported and developed in a regulated and sensitive manner that is both environmentally and socially responsible - to address the challenges and further contribute positively towards eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. While the role of fisheries is increasingly recognized by national and global development policy makers, there is a clear need for a more proactive and concerted effort by the fisheries sector. At the global level, the ongoing work on the Post-2015 Development Agenda provides an excellent opportunity to reiterate and establish the importance of fisheries.