Commentary : Resilience and Social-Ecological Systems: A Handful of Frontiers

Folke, C., L.J. Haider, S.J. Lade, A.V. Norström and J. Rocha. 2021. Commentary : Resilience and Social-Ecological Systems: A Handful of Frontiers. Global Environmental Change 71:102400.

WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies

Sumaila, U.R., D. Skerritt, A. Schuhbauer, S. Villasante, A.M. Cisneros-Montemayor, H. Sinan, D Burnside, et al. 2021. WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies. Science 374(6567):544.

We need biosphere stewardship that protects carbon sinks and builds resilience

Rockström, J., T. Beringer, D. Hole, B. Griscom, M. B. Mascia, C. Folke, F. Creutzig. 2021. We need biosphere stewardship that protects carbon sinks and builds resilience. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(38):e2115218118.

Artificial intelligence, systemic risks, and sustainability

Galaz, V., M.A. Centeno, P.W. Callahan, A. Causevic, T. Patterson. et al. 2021. Artificial intelligence, systemic risks, and sustainability. Technology in Society 67:101741.

Automated decision making and predictive analytics through artificial intelligence, in combination with rapid progress in technologies such as sensor technology and robotics are likely to change the way individuals, communities, governments and private actors perceive and respond to climate and ecological change. Methods based on various forms of artificial intelligence are already today being applied in a number of research fields related to climate change...

Blue food demand across geographic and temporal scales

Naylor, R.L., A. Kishore, U.R. Sumaila, I.Issifu, B.P. Hunter, B. Belton, S.R. Bush, L. Cao, S. Gelcich, J.A. Gephart, C.D. Golden, M. Jonell, J. Z. Koehn, D.C. Little, S. H. Thilsted, M. Tigchelaar and B. Crona . 2021. Blue food demand across geographic and temporal scales. Nature Communications 12: article 5413.

Numerous studies have focused on the need to expand production of ‘blue foods’, defined as aquatic foods captured or cultivated in marine and freshwater systems, to meet rising population- and income-driven demand. Here we analyze the roles of economic, demographic, and geographic factors and preferences in shaping blue food demand, using secondary data from FAO and The World Bank, parameters from published models, and case...

Compound climate risks threaten aquatic food system benefits

Tigchelaar, M., W.W.L. Cheung, E.Y. Mohammed, M.J. Phillips, H.J. Payne, E.R. Selig, C.C.C. Wabnitz, M.A. Oyinlola, T.L. Frölicher, J.A. Gephart, C.D. Golden, E.H. Allison, A. Bennett, L. Cao, J. Fanzo, B.S. Halpern, V.W.Y. Lam, F. Micheli, R.L. Naylor, U.R. Sumaila, A. Tagliabue and M. Troell . 2021. Compound climate risks threaten aquatic food system benefits. Nature Food 2:673–682.

Aquatic foods from marine and freshwater systems are critical to the nutrition, health, livelihoods, economies and cultures of billions of people worldwide, but climate-related hazards may compromise their ability to provide these benefits. Here, we estimate national-level aquatic food system climate risk using an integrative food systems approach that connects climate hazards impacting marine and freshwater capture fisheries and aquaculture to their contributions to sustainable...

Environmental performance of blue foods

Gephart, J.A., P.J.G. Henriksson, R.W.R. Parker, A. Shepon, K. D. Gorospe, K. Bergman, G. Eshel, C.D. Golden, B.S. Halpern, S. Hornborg, M. Jonell, M. Metian, K. Mifflin, R. Newton, P. Tyedmers, W. Zhang, F. Ziegler and M. Troell. 2021. Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature 597:360–365.

Fish and other aquatic foods (blue foods) present an opportunity for more sustainable diets1,2. Yet comprehensive comparison has been limited due to sparse inclusion of blue foods in environmental impact studies3,4 relative to the vast diversity of production5. Here we provide standardized estimates of greenhouse gas, nitrogen, phosphorus, freshwater and land stressors for species groups covering nearly three quarters of global production. We find that...

Interventions for improving the productivity and environmental performance of global aquaculture for future food security

Henriksson, P.J.G., M. Troell, L.K. Banks, B. Belton, M.C.M. Beveridge, H. KLinger, N. Pelletier, J. Phillips, N. Tran. 2021. Interventions for improving the productivity and environmental performance of global aquaculture for future food security. One Earth 4(9):1220-1232.

Aquatic foods are increasingly being recognized as having an important role to play in an environmentally sustainable and nutritionally sufficient food system. Proposals for increasing aquatic food production often center around species, environments, and ambitious hi-tech solutions that mainly will benefit the 16% of the global population living in high-income countries. Meanwhile, most aquaculture species and systems suffer from large performance gaps, meaning that targeted...

Governance in the Face of Extreme Events: Lessons from Evolutionary Processes for Structuring Interventions, and the Need to Go Beyond

Levin, S. A., J. M. Anderies, N. Adger, S. Barrett, E. M. Bennett, J. C. Cardenas, S. R. Carpenter, A.-S. Crépin, P. Ehrlich, J. Fischer, C. Folke, N. Kautsky, C. Kling, K. Nyborg, S. Polasky, M. Scheffer, K. Segerson, J. Shogren, J. van den Bergh, B. Walker, E. U. Weber and J. Wilen. 2021. Governance in the Face of Extreme Events: Lessons from Evolutionary Processes for Structuring Interventions, and the Need to Go Beyond. Ecosystems doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00680-2.

The increasing frequency of extreme events, exogenous and endogenous, poses challenges for our societies. The current pandemic is a case in point; but “once-in-a-century” weather events are also becoming more common, leading to erosion, wildfire and even volcanic events that change ecosystems and disturbance regimes, threaten the sustainability of our life-support systems, and challenge the robustness and resilience of societies. Dealing with extremes will require...

The Vital Roles of Blue Foods in the Global Food System

Leape, J., F. Micheli, M. Tigchelaar et al. 2021. The Vital Roles of Blue Foods in the Global Food System . . A Blue Food Assessment Policy brief to UNFSS Scientific group. The Blue Food Assessment.