Nereus Program Manager and Research Associate Dr. Vicky Lam (University of British Columbia) and Nereus Fellow Muhammed Oyinlola (UBC) participated in a meeting organized by the World Bank and held at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome on October 22-24, 2018. While there, they discussed how marine fisheries in Sub-Saharan Africa are important both economically, and for the millions of people dependent on them for food.

The authors looked at how food production on land and in the sea will be threatened by climate change and what the future effects on biodiversity, livelihoods and food security will be. They adopted the human development index (HDI) — a global index of life expectancy, education and per capita income. They found that all of the low human development index countries will face declines in both agriculture and fisheries production by 2050.

Developing nations, which have contributed little to the issue of climate change, are likely to experience reduced livelihood opportunities and emerging dietary nutrient deficiencies as a result of climate change impacts on fisheries.

Global fisheries could lose approximately $10 billion of annual revenues by 2050 if climate change continues at current rates, and countries most dependent on fisheries for food and livelihoods will feel more of the effects, finds new Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program research published today in Scientific Reports.