Nereus Program Manager and Research Associate Dr. Vicky Lam and Nereus Fellow Muhammed Oyinlola participated in a technical meeting organized by the World Bank held at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome on October 22-24, 2018.

Fish serve as an essential component of over 400 million Africans and provide approximately 22% of protein intake on the continent with over 50% in some poor coastal countries. In addition, about 6.4 million Africans derive their livelihood directly or indirectly from activities within the marine fisheries sector. However, this socio-economic and nutritional security is being threatened under climate change. There is an urgent need to assess, to the extent possible, the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and related well-being of coastal countries in Africa. This meeting aimed to discuss the results of a World Bank report that focuses on stock-taking of available knowledge on the economic importance of marine fisheries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the populations

depending on them, assessing the impact of climate change on fisheries using modeling approach, and estimating the risk and vulnerability of each African country’s economy to climate change via fisheries. The meeting invited 25 participants including African fisheries experts, climate change experts, FAO representatives, and regional fisheries managers. The discussion was centered on the possibility of refining the study with country-based indicators to carry out regional- and country-level assessments in the next stage. Lastly, participants sought to define an approach to select appropriate adaptation tools and strategies. This exercise aimed to assist the World Bank’s research team in finalizing this portion of the report, and to develop the report’s second part  based on Part 1’s results.

The full report of Part 1 will be launched at a side event in the Global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, on November 26 – 28, 2018.