Tag Archive for: Sustainability

Sustainability

Posts

Aquatic foods researcher awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for pioneering work with small fish

Nutrition, Sustainability, 25 May 2021/in E-News /by panglobal

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted

The 2021 World Food Prize was awarded 11 May to leading nutrition expert Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted for her work in pioneering fish-based food systems to improve nutrition, health and livelihoods for millions of people around the world.

Dr. Thilsted was the first to establish that many small fish species commonly eaten across Southeast Asia are an important source of essential micronutrients and fatty acids and improve the absorption of nutrients in plant-based foods. Her work has reshaped scientific understanding of the benefits of fish in diets. This knowledge has helped prioritize increases in fish consumption and production, transforming the diets and incomes of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The 2021 Laureate announcement featured pre-recorded remarks from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack and UN Nutrition Chair Naoko Yamamoto, with World Food Prize Foundation President Barbara Stinson announcing the name of the Laureate.

“Dr. Thilsted figured out how these nutrient-rich small fish can be raised locally and inexpensively,” said Blinken. “Now, millions of low-income families across many countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Burma, Zambia, Malawi are eating small fish regularly, dried and fresh, in everything from chutneys to porridge, giving kids and breastfeeding mothers key nutrients that will protect children for a lifetime. That is all thanks to her.”

Small-scale aquaculture

Much of Dr. Thilsted’s success in expanding small-scale aquaculture is due to the development of pond polyculture systems, in which small and large fish species are farmed together in water bodies and rice field ponds. Dr. Thilsted led research revealing that raising different fish varieties together increases total production and the nutritional value of the production.

“I am truly honuored to receive the 2021 World Food Prize, and I am deeply humbled to be placed in such distinguished ranks as those of past Laureates,” Dr. Thilsted said. “This award is an important recognition of the essential but often overlooked role of fish and aquatic food systems in agricultural research for development. Fish and aquatic foods offer life-changing opportunities for millions of vulnerable women, children and men to be healthy and well-nourished.”

Cost-effective at supplying nutrients

In Bangladesh, where her research on fish began with long-term support from Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA), Dr. Thilsted’s fish-based approach is now recognized as more cost-effective at supplying nutrients than vegetable gardening, prompting the government to promote pond polyculture as a means of tackling malnutrition.

This approach has also helped Bangladesh become the fifth largest aquaculture producer in the world, supporting 18 million people and increasing productivity threefold since 2000. Women in particular have also benefited from the greater economic opportunities through increased fish production, as women account for 60 percent of Bangladesh’s smallholder fish farmers.

Nutrition-sensitive food systems

“Dr. Thilsted is the seventh woman to be awarded the World Food Prize and the first woman of Asian heritage,” said Stinson. “She is at the helm of our global progress in the UN Decade of Action and continues to stand at the forefront of innovation, pushing the boundaries of nutrition-sensitive food systems, truly changing the conversation from not just feeding populations but nourishing them.”

Dr. Thilsted’s trailblazing approach also extends throughout the entire chain of producing, processing, transporting, selling and consuming aquatic food. For instance, her research has led to the development of a highly nutritious fish chutney, inspired by her own grandmother’s recipe, and fish powder, helping improve the diets of millions of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children.

Source of low-emission, high-nutrition foods

“As our global population grows, we will need diverse sources of low-emission, high-nutrition foods like aquaculture,” said Secretary Vilsack. “It is going to be crucial in feeding the world while reducing our impact on the climate. Dr. Thilsted has been a leader in this effort and certainly a worthy recipient of the World Food Prize this year.”

Dr. Thilsted, the Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at WorldFish, a CGIAR research centre headquartered in Malaysia, has worked across disciplines and united international partners to scale up this nutrition-sensitive approach in countries across Asia and Africa.

“The choice of Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted as the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate by the Selection Committee precisely meets the qualities envisioned by the award’s founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug, increasing and improving food production through scientific discovery,” said Paul Schickler, Chairman, World Food Prize Council of Advisors. “Dr. Thilsted has improved the production of small fish species and enabled fish delivery from the farmer to the consumer. The Council of Advisors congratulates Dr. Thilsted.”

Now a Danish citizen, Dr. Thilsted descends from a family of Indian Hindu migrants to Trinidad and Tobago, and she began her career as the first and only woman stationed in Tobago’s Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries.

Later, while working at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh, Dr. Thilsted established a kitchen garden at the malnutrition rehabilitation centre where more than 6,000 children were admitted every year. Alongside an outreach programme for the families and communities of discharged children to help improve diets, these measures helped bring down readmittance rates by two thirds.

Human health and the environment

Motivated by a desire to prevent malnutrition with earlier interventions, Dr. Thilsted began researching the role of fish and aquaculture, working with international organizations including UNICEF, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank and, since 2010, WorldFish. She also holds leadership roles in the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 and the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition.

“Nutrition is everybody’s business,” said Yamamoto. “Every country, every sector has a role to play. Good nutrition can improve human capital and drive sustainable development. We are proud Dr. Thilsted’s work is highlighting how aquatic foods can benefit both human health and the environment.”

“Dr. Thilsted is credited for developing an innovative farming system through fisheries, aquaculture, and related value chains to dramatically impact the food supply, nutrition, and health of poor people living in vulnerable environments,” said Gebisa Ejeta, Chair, World Food Prize Laureate Selection Committee. “The Selection Committee recognized her remarkable research and development achievement that is shaping food systems to be more sustainable, resilient and equitable for everyone.”

sustainable fishers and a living wage for fishers

Sustainable fisheries and the well-being of fishers — a Q&A with Alfredo Giron-Nava and Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor

fishers living wage, Sustainability, sustainable fisheries, 14 April 2021/in Featured Articles /by panglobal

Marine fisheries employ millions of people around the world and play an essential role in aquatic food systems. However, while there is a strong push for achieving biological sustainability in global fisheries, is not enough to ensure the well-being of fishers and their families, according to a new paper published in Fish and Fisheries.

The research, with collaborators at the University of British Columbia, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and UC Santa Barbara, finds that while sustainable fisheries are essential for ocean health and a “Blue Economy”, they are insufficient to ensure a living-wage for many fishers around the world. Instead, the authors find, even if fisheries were perfectly managed to meet maximum sustainable yield, a common goal for fisheries management, up to 70% of fishers worldwide would still not make the minimum wage in their country.

Laura Anderson speaks to co-lead authors of the paper Alfredo Giron-Nava and Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor about the importance of social well-being in fisheries and future efforts toward a resilient blue economy.

Giron-Nava is an André Hoffmann fellow at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions and the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution-San Francisco and Cisneros-Montemayor is deputy director of the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center.

How would you define a Blue Economy?

A Blue Economy is made up of one or more ocean industries established and run in a way that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable, and economically viable. The focus on social equity is what really sets a blue economy apart from other types of development, because the overall goal is to make sure that benefits go to frontline communities and people that are most vulnerable or historically marginalized.

Can you explain how this research builds on current strategies for sustainable fisheries management?

For over 50 years, the most common goal for fisheries management has been to maximize the catch we can take sustainably from a given fishery, a concept known as the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). The idea behind the MSY is that if more fish are available to fishers, this will generate more food and money and more people will benefit from it. Our research questions this basic set of assumptions and highlights that we have to directly address inequitable distribution of fish and revenues within seafood value chains. Often the people actually doing the fishing and processing are the ones getting the least share of economic benefits and rarely have a true voice in management goals.

What motivated you to explore these questions?

Giron-Nava: Early in my career as a fisheries scientist, I realized that any plan to manage a fishery is inherently tied to a community that gets impacted, and that the effective enforcement of regulations to preserve ecosystems relies on communities that care and recognize the value of conservation. With this in mind, it’s important to recognize the limit that fisheries productivity has to support coastal communities and face the challenge that we need to think more holistically about good fisheries management that also pursues societal goals.

Cisneros-Montemayor: In addition to being a fisheries scientist and economist, I grew up in a fishing town in Mexico. Throughout my life, I’ve seen how our focus on the biology and ecology of fisheries management simply hasn’t worked for supporting the well-being of fishers and their families, which is supposed to be the ultimate goal. Ecology is still really important, but we have to start recognizing that the underlying issues that lead to poverty and unsustainable practices are social, not ecological.

What did you discover about the connection between fisheries management and fishers livelihoods?

We found that there isn’t a strong relationship between the state of fish stocks in terms of the MSY and the income level of fishers relative to the minimum living wages in their countries. Of course, healthy fish stocks can produce more fish and more money, but there are many other factors that play a more important role when it comes to well-being.

What can researchers and policymakers learn from fishing communities?

A lot of things, but probably the most important one is that what researchers and policymakers see as the most important goals and aspects of well-being may be different than those of the communities themselves. We need to start by listening and making sure that we are all on the same page as far as what the challenges and likely best solutions are.

How might this research apply to on-the-ground policy action?

Cisneros-Montemayor: One really direct way is by encouraging fisheries scientists, who, in my experience, absolutely value fisher perspectives, to connect with social scientists and frontline workers. Hopefully this can lead to cooperation at higher levels, like among institutions that may have different mandates but all have a role to play in complex systems of fisheries and social well-being.

Giron-Nava: Another way is by starting a debate on what other strategies exist to ensure the social well-being of fishing communities. Should we be developing strategies to increase the value of the catch? Can we redesign fisheries subsidies to target some of these deficits? Is it mostly that wealth is concentrated by a few individuals who own the vessels and fishing permits? We hope that our work will inspire these questions and get managers talking to communities.

It sounds like there is still a lot to learn. What additional research is needed to inform just transitions to sustainability?

It’s important to find better ways to account for income and benefits beyond just the landed value of fisheries. Alternative sources of income, contributions of other household members, the role of the processing sector — which in most places is overwhelmingly led by women — and non-market benefits are just a few things that we didn’t include in our analysis because there isn’t enough data right now, but are super important to explore going forward.

Why is it important to understand sustainable ocean management holistically?

Giron-Nava: The value of the ocean goes way beyond the money generated for fishing. It is also about the deep cultural connections that coastal communities have with it. Sustainable ocean management has to recognize these other values when thinking about ‘maximizing’ fishing revenues. This means bringing to the table not only ecologists and fisheries scientists, but also anthropologists, sociologists, communicators and others who may be able to place those values front and center when designing management plans.

Cisneros-Montemayor: A lot of people really want to have vibrant communities and a healthy ocean, but the evidence tells us that we need to put much more focus on the social issues than we have been if we want to achieve either of those goals.

Read the full Fish and Fisheries paper

Beukenlaan 137
5616 VD Eindhoven
The Netherlands
+31 85064 55 82
info@fei-online.com

PanGlobal Media and Publishing BV is not responsible for any error or omission that might occur in the electronic display of product or company data.