Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 91

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 2018
and Nutrition in the World 2017 (FAO et al., 2017),
many people still lack the food they need for an
active and healthy life. In 2016, the overall number
of chronically undernourished people reached 815
million, up from 777 million in 2015 although still
down from about 900 million in 2000, with the
largest numbers and proportions in Asia and
Africa. After a prolonged decline, this recent
increase could signal a reversal of trends. The food
security situation has worsened particularly in
parts of sub-Saharan Africa and southeastern and
western Asia, most notably in situations of
conflict, in some cases combined with droughts or
floods. In some countries, multiple forms of
malnutrition – child undernutrition, anaemia
among women, adult obesity – coexist.
Overweight and obesity are increasing in children
in most regions and in adults in all regions,
primarily because of excessive consumption of
high-fat and processed products. Fish, with its low
fat content and valuable nutritional properties,
could play a major role in correcting unbalanced
diets, especially if specific policies are put in place
to increase its consumption. n
demands on their time; as a result, fish products
prepared and marketed for convenience, through
both retail and fast-food ser vices, have been
growing in popularit y. The tastes of modern
consumers are also characterized by an emphasis
on healthy living and a relatively high interest in
the origin of the foods they eat, trends that will
continue to inf luence fish consumption patterns
in both mature and developing markets.
Beyond sector-specific considerations, overall
levels of fish consumption also depend on market
developments for other animal meats, led in
terms of quantit y by poultr y, pig and bovine
meat. Rising incomes, trade liberalization and
widespread urbanization have affected demand
for these terrestrial meats, as they have for fish.
Between 1961 and 2013 (the last year for which
consumption fig ures for terrestrial meat are
available in FAO [2018e]), total terrestrial meat
consumption increased by 2.8 percent per year,
while per capita consumption grew at an average
annual rate of 1.2 percent, from 23.1 to 43.2 kg.
While pig meat had the highest share in world
terrestrial animal meat consumption in 2013, this
share rose only modestly from 35 percent in 1961
to 37 percent in 2013. Consumption of poultr y
has risen faster than that of any other animal
meat, including fish. The share of poultr y in
terrestrial meat consumption was 35 percent in
2013, a substantial gain relative to the 1961 fig ure
of 12 percent. Conversely, the share of bovine
meat fell remarkably (from 41 to 22 percent
between 1961 and 2013). The degree to which fish
is a market substitute for other sources of animal
protein is the subject of continuing research; it is
affected by many factors including taste,
nutritional habits and prices. In this respect, the
development of the poultr y sector is likely to be
the most relevant for fish consumption over the
next decade, as poultr y, like fish, is an
inexpensive lean protein of significant and
increasing importance in the diets of developing
countr y populations (OECD and FAO, 2017). GOVERNANCE AND
POLICY
Despite improvements in per capita availability of
food and positive long-term trends in nutritional
standards, undernutrition (including inadequate
consumption of protein-rich food of animal origin)
remains a huge and persistent problem,
predominantly in the rural areas of developing
countries. According to The State of Food Security Achieving the SDGs is the collective
responsibilit y of all countries and all actors. It
will depend on collaboration across sectors and
disciplines, international cooperation and mutual
accountabilit y, and requires comprehensive,
evidence-based and participator y problem-
solving, financing and policy-making.
The contributions of fisheries to achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations (UN) system has affirmed its
commitment to putting equalit y and non-
discrimination at the heart of the implementation
of the 2030 Agenda (CEB, 2016). In fisheries and
aquaculture, the commitment to leave no one
behind is a call to focus action and cooperation
on achieving the core ambitions of the 2030
Agenda for the benefit of all fish workers, their
families and their communities (see “Fisheries
and the Sustainable Development Goals: meeting
the 2030 Agenda” in Part 2).
| 75 |