Nice, France - Young people must drive the transformation needed to enable aquatic foods to nourish a global population projected to grow by billions, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations told a youthful audience here on the first official day of the UN Ocean Conference.
In one of his first engagements at the Conference, which marks an important platform for FAO's technical work in fisheries and aquaculture and its role in key international agreements on the sector, Qu was speaking at an event marking FAO's 80th anniversary, titled "From Legacy to leadership: Youth-led Solutions for Ocean Sustainability."
The gathering, including young leaders from the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, was held aboard the historic Norwegian training vessel, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl in the port of this Mediterranean city.
Youth key to transformation
The Director-General emphasized that FAO is engaged in multi-pronged initiatives in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. But he said that for real transformation to happen, the youth need to be not just included but empowered - not just as observers, but leaders, creators, and innovators, who are not just part of the transformation but are driving it.
Åsmund Grøver Aukrust, Minister for International Development of Norway and Steven Victor. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and the Environment for the Republic of Palau were among the other keynote speakers.
Young people involved in the fisheries and aquaculture sector participated in three panel discussions on building youth capacity for sustainable aquatic food systems; next-gen science: driving blue solutions and youth leadership in effective fisheries and aquaculture management.
Lead discussants included young experts and practitioners from the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Senegal, the Pacific Islands, and Sierra Leone. A particular focus was on regions where aquatic food systems are critical to food security, livelihoods, and poverty alleviation.
FAO meets challenge
In light of FAO's upcoming 80th anniversary in October, the Organisation has noted that at its inception in 1945, some 60 percent of the global population lived under extreme poverty. Many experts then believed it would be difficult, if not impossible, to feed more than 3 billion people, providing a key rationale for FAO's formation to find solutions.
Now, 80 years later, the world will soon face the need to feed 10 billion people, while using its natural resources wisely, with young people key to finding new solutions.
Aquatic foods - including capture fisheries and aquaculture in seas, ponds and lakes - provide a significant opportunity, already nourishing billions of people around the world by providing high-quality proteins and micronutrients, with global per capita consumption reaching 21 kg and continuing to grow.
Looking ahead, the population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, increasing the demand for high-quality foods, including aquatic foods. As societies strengthen economically, their demand for high-quality foods, such as aquatic foods, grows.
Investment and transformation
Given the urgent need for investment and transformation in food systems to meet these demands, FAO's Blue Transformation agenda has a key role to play by boosting sustainable aquaculture in food-insecure regions; managing fisheries effectively with ecosystem-based approaches and upgrading value chains to cut food losses and facilitating access to markets for producers.
Over the past 80 years, FAO has built tools, systems and knowledge to support the sector. These include the unique global, regional and national time series of fisheries and aquaculture data, to guide evidence-based policy-making.
FAO plays a key role in facilitating global frameworks and instruments like the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries. It also promotes innovative approaches to manage aquatic systems efficiently, aligned with the complexity and uniqueness of each resource and habitat.
In order to bolster the inclusion and empowerment of youth in all these processes, Qu established the FAO Youth Committee shortly after taking office in 2019.
At the close of the event, organized in collaboration with Norway and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, a youth-led draft statement was presented, outlining concrete proposals and recommendations to strengthen youth leadership and innovation in the blue economy. The statement will be shared globally, promoting collaboration across youth networks worldwide.
