While over 800 million people – more than one in 10 worldwide – suffer from undernutrition, one-third of all food produced goes to waste. Levels of overweight and obesity continue to increase, now affecting more than two billion children and adults. Unhealthy diets have become a leading risk factor for disease globally and the main driver of the epidemic of chronic conditions. To end malnutrition in all its forms, the world must holistically address all food-related challenges.
Since its inception in 2014, EAT Forum has gain attention from scientists from across the globes. EAT Forum is the first global initiative that integrates knowledge to transform the global food system, health and sustainability. The 2019 forum will be informed by the findings of the landmark report by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health launched on January 17, 2019. The EAT-Lancet report is the first full scientific review of what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system, and which actions can support and speed up food system transformation.
Side events: Blue Food Assessment (BFA) Workshop - Putting aquatic production at the heart of global food systems
On June 11, 2019, the EAT Forum will be hosting a side event at the Resilience Centre. The Blue Food Assessment (BFA) expert workshop for the first time. WorldFish Director of Aquaculture and Fisheries Sciences Dr. Michael Phillips, and WorldFish Program Leader of Value Chains and Nutrition, Dr. Shakuntala Thilsted have been invited to join the discussion along with twenty-three distinguished international experts to a one-day workshop.
Given its health benefits, its comparatively small environmental footprint, and the potential for a substantial expansion of global production, foods from oceanic and freshwater systems are expected to become more important in the future global food basket. The EAT-Lancet Commission, launched in January 2019, calls for a substantial increase in consumption of blue food as part of a healthy and sustainable diet, especially in regions where the current intake is low or non-existent. However, there is a need for a higher resolution analysis of what such a shift would imply for human health, resource systems and planetary boundaries, and a deeper understanding of how to sustain the health of oceanic and freshwater ecosystems and the people who rely on them for their well-being and livelihoods. In addition, the linkages to terrestrial systems through growing feed demand from aquaculture and environmental impacts of agriculture on aquatic production systems such as water pollution, and reduced environmental flows, or lost connectivity, requires further attention.
Currently, no universal and comprehensive synthesis exists that highlights the importance of aquatic food production within a broader global food systems perspective. The Blue Food Assessment (BFA) aims to significantly expand the existing scientific understanding of the role of aquatic food (aka blue food) for planetary health and human wellbeing and outline pathways for a transformation to sustainable and healthy blue food for all humans on the planet, now and in the future.