Risks are escalating socially, politically and environmentally, you just need to look at the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report at the start of each year to see the magnitude and heightened concern over global catastrophes.

And food systems are at the epicentre of three global risks: food insecurity; public-health issues; and planet-warming greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions—to which global food production contributes one-third.

There are at least 238m acutely food insecure people in 48 countries; a 10% increase on the 2022 figure, according to the World Food Programme. Food insecurity is largely driven by extreme weather affecting production; conflict creating distribution problems, price hikes and food shortages; and economic shocks inflating prices.

For the first time at the annual climate conference, the COP presidency prioritised food systems, with a particular focus on loss and waste. In 2022, there were 1.05bn tonnes of food waste generated, according to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, amounting to over one billion meals a day.

Food loss and waste generates 8-10% of annual GHG emissions—almost five times that of the aviation sector. The toll of food loss and waste on the global economy is estimated at $1trn, according to the World Bank.

With 38% of the global population currently either overweight or obese and some 422m  people worldwide with diabetes, “diabesity” is the next biggest human epidemic. Finding sustainably sourced protein-laden, nutritious food to combat “hidden hunger” is a challenge.

Yet very few look to the ocean as a critical player as both a source of environmentally sustainable and regenerative proteins and as an integral solution to mitigating the effects of the climate crisis. Moreover, according to research by Economist Impact, the ocean is crucial to achieving all of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, which is why blue foods need to be front and centre of any food-security discussions.

From both freshwater (fisheries) and marine (aquaculture) production systems, blue foods are key to making sure that there is enough to feed the estimated 10bn people expected by 2050. Right now, in terms of food, fish provide more than 4.5bn people with at least 15% of their average per capita intake of animal protein, reaching more than 50% in several countries in Asia and Africa.

And of the 3bn in ocean-related livelihoods, marine fisheries alone employ almost 60m  people, of which roughly 20% are women. In 2020, fisheries and aquaculture production reached an all-time record of 214m tonnes, worth about $424bn.

That said, the increasing global consumption of seafood has meant that unsustainable fishing and aquaculture practices are depleting the ocean of fish and other aquatic food species. In 2017, industrial-scale fishing meant that more than 35% of global fish stocks were overfished, with over a third of all fish removed from the sea wasted.