Environment and Sustainability

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Global population is forecast to reach around 9 billion by 2050. To feed the world, global agricultural output must increase by around 60% from present levels. This must be achieved against a background of increasing competition for natural resources such as water, feed ingredients and farming sites.

Maintaining environmental integrity while massively increasing food production will require farming systems to reduce their unit production environmental footprint. Many farming practices that are regarded as sustainable today will not be acceptable when scaled up. Sustainable intensification of aquaculture means doing more with less. The Environment and Sustainability Programme aims to help aquaculture become a more efficient user of natural resources, both in terms of farm productivity and environmental efficiency.

The programme develops better management practices for major aquaculture farming systems, and promotes aquaculture as a secondary or additional use of water resources. The programme focusses on practical interventions that can be directly achieved by small-scale farmers in a developing country context.

Key activities

Key activities of the programme are:

Development of better management practices for key aquaculture production systems.
Organising small-scale farmers into associations to facilitate cluster-based approaches to extension.
Development of culture-based fisheries as a secondary use of water bodies.
Development of strategic policy frameworks to guide governments and development agencies in promoting sustainable intensification of aquaculture.

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Subject tags

A collection of subject tags relating to technical matters.

In this collection

Technical brief: Climate change vulnerability and adaptation for improved extensive shrimp farming in Vietnam

In Vietnam, small scale farmers and other stakeholders involved in aquaculture perceive that climate changes such as frequent extreme weather events have serious impacts on their farming systems. Farmers have started to adapt by changing the management practices. Institutional initiatives that have been introduced includes provision of budget for climate change response for aquaculture, aquaculture area planning and monitoring, government financial support, policy on mangrove planting for coastal protection and development of farmer associations.

Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010

The conference was organised by FAO, the Thai Department of Fisheries and NACA and held in the Mövenpick Resort and Spa, Phuket, Thailand, 22-25 September. The conference was the third in a series of aquaculture development conferences, following on from the Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium held in Bangkok 2000, and the FAO Technical Conference on Aquaculture, held in Kyoto 1976.

Global aquaculture development since 2000: Progress made in implementing the Bangkok Declaration and Strategy for Aquaculture Development Beyond 2000

This keynote presentation elaborates the achievements made in aquaculture globally during the past decade, in keeping with the Bangkok Declaration and Strategy, which brought the aquaculture sector to the current level. It has been recognised that the principles and strategies advocated by the Kyoto Declaration on Aquaculture in 1976, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in 1995, and the Bangkok Declaration and Strategy in 2000 have served well the process and goals of aquaculture development.

Aquaculture development in Africa: Current status and future prospects

This review covers aquaculture development in sub-Saharan Africa. The bulk of the production (93 percent) is from freshwater and is predominantly the culture of the indigenous and ubiquitous species of tilapias and African catfishes. In 2007 catfish contributed about 49 percent of the total production, and interest in the culture of the species for domestic markets, intra- and inter-regional trade and exports overseas is still growing in several countries.

Aquaculture development in Asia-Pacific: Current status and future prospects

The Asia-Pacific region continues to lead in aquaculture production. The dominance of the region in the global aquaculture scene is also exemplified by the Asia-Pacific being the leading producer of the major cultured commodities viz. finfish, molluscs, shrimp and seaweed, and nine out of ten of the current leading aquaculture-producing countries being from the region. Among the countries in the region, China has continued to maintain its dominance in aquaculture production.