SOFIA 2018
The state of the world Fisheries and Aquaculture
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals
Human societies face the enormous challenge of having to provide food and livelihoods to a population well in excess of 9 billion people by the middle of the twenty-first century, while addressing the disproportionate impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the resource base. The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a unique, transformative and integrative approach to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path that leaves no one behind. Food and agriculture are key to achieving the entire set of SDGs, and many SDGs are directly relevant to fisheries and aquaculture, in particular SDG 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development). Galvanized by public and political attention, in June 2017 the United Nations convened a high-level Ocean Conference
in New York to support the implementation of SDG 14. This event was shortly followed by the
appointment of Peter Thomson of Fiji as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean
and the launch of the Communities of Ocean Action, an initiative to track and build on the over 1400 voluntary commitments registered and announced at the Ocean Conference.
in New York to support the implementation of SDG 14. This event was shortly followed by the
appointment of Peter Thomson of Fiji as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean
and the launch of the Communities of Ocean Action, an initiative to track and build on the over 1400 voluntary commitments registered and announced at the Ocean Conference.