Ocean Dialogues 2021 - Food from the Ocean, Rivers and Lakes – Essential for Food Systems - English

This session is part of both the Virtual Ocean Dialogues and the Global Dialogue for the UN Food Systems Summit. It is being co-convened by the Special Envoy of the Food Systems Summit Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson, Friends of Ocean Action, the United Nations Foundation, and Norway. Aquatic/blue foods play a vital role in food systems but are often missing from the conversation. This session aims to address that. A healthy ocean means healthy people – the ocean and other aquatic ecosystems are fragile but have the potential to be pillars of local food systems if those systems are transformed to be more sustainable, nature-positive and accessible. It is vital that food systems allow access to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods that meet the dietary needs and food preferences of a growing population. The interconnection between land and ocean food production are also too often ignored when thinking about food system transformation. The UN Food Systems Summit provides an opportunity to address these gaps and develop solutions to feed the world through systems that are good for the land, good for the climate, and good for the ocean.