[Title] DAPEC HIGH LEVEL POLICY DIALOGUE ON FOOD SECURITY AND BLUE ECONOMY, PLAN OF ACTION (Annex B)

Food Security and Blue Economy: Sustainable food supply chains from resilient resources for inclusive growth

Acknowledging that the challenges to meet the food demand of the world's rising populations require sustainable food supply chains anchored on resilient resources and coastal communities, sustainable food production, developed markets, and open and fair trade;

Recognizing that the marine resources in the Asia Pacific region are vital to ensuring food security in the region, accounting for two-thirds of the world's capture fishery production, 80 percent of the world's aquaculture production, and where per capita supply of fish is 65 percent higher than the world average;*1*

Confirming that "for the purposes of APEC, the APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Group views Blue Economy as an approach to advance sustainable management and conservation of ocean and coastal resources and ecosystems and sustainable development, in order to foster economic growth";

Recognizing the key role of APEC as an important platform for regional economic integration and growth, as well as recognizing discussions and initiatives related to Blue Economy, and efforts to explore its potential by economies, therefore calling for cooperation on Blue Economy in the Asia Pacific region;

Recognizing that insufficient efforts in conservation and management of fishery resources, inter alia, combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, degradation of the coastal ecosystems and marine resources, vulnerability to climate change and disasters pose serious threats to the resilience of these marine resources and the coastal communities dependent on them;

Acknowledging the importance of conservation, protection and sustainable management of habitats, biodiversity, oceans, and fishery resources through Blue Economy and other means for food security;

Noting that fish provides a significant portion of animal protein requirement in the Asia Pacific region, especially in low-income food-deficit economies;

Aware that the Asia Pacific region consumes 70 percent of the world's fish products and where one-fourth of the world's hungry reside*2*;

Acknowledging that aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food producing sectors and is projected to increase to 62 percent of total fishery production by 2030, while catches from wild capture fisheries level off, and demand from an emerging global middle class substantially increases;

Recognizing that development of responsible aquaculture practices can provide continuing benefits for global food security and economic growth;

Stressing the important role of small scale fisheries to food security, nutrition and livelihoods of coastal communities, noting that the sector accounts for one half of the global fish catch and considering that small scale fishing communities are often economically and environmentally vulnerable;

Recognizing that food loss and waste across the supply chain are a major constraint to food security, yet one third of the total world food production is lost or wasted, and that adopting food loss reduction strategies will substantially increase food supply;

Emphasizing that global post harvest fish loss and waste is estimated to be between 20-75% *3*;

Aware that agribusiness offers opportunities for increased income and integration of small scale fishers and fish farmers, cooperatives, associations, and other stakeholders in food supply chains;

Emphasizing that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, food fish loss and waste, and limited access to food of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups are challenges to food security that need more enhanced actions;

Expressing appreciation to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for their active participation in the meeting on behalf of the private sector and their valuable perspectives, and reaffirming our commitment to working closely with ABAC to address food security and blue economy;

Recognizing the challenges we are facing on Food Security and Blue Economy, we, APEC High Level Officials responsible for food security and blue economy, therefore,

Reaffirm the commitments made on food security in the Niigata Declaration on APEC Food Security (2010), Kazan Declaration on APEC Food Security (2012), Beijing Declaration on APEC Food Security (2014),APEC Food Security Road Map Towards 2020 (2014), as well as the commitments relating to oceans and fisheries such as the Seoul Oceans Declaration (2002), the Bali Plan of Action (2005), the Paracas Declaration and its Action Agenda (2010), and the Xiamen Declaration (2014);

Recognize the importance of strengthened joint collaboration between the Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) and the Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) and other relevant fora in advancing the Plan of Action through existing mechanisms such as joint projects as well as through promoting synergies in their respective strategic plans;

Encourage APEC economies to implement the following Plan of Action within their economies, building upon previous APEC commitments:

PLAN OF ACTION

Recommended Actions

Priority 1:Resilient Ocean and Coastal Resources and Ecosystems, Coastal Communities and Sustainable Aquaculture. Advancing sustainable management and conservation of oceans and coastal resources and sustainable aquaculture to ensure a resilient food supply, including conserving, protecting and sustainably managing resources and their ecosystems, and reducing their vulnerability to climate change and disasters.

1.1 Strengthen local, regional and international capacities and collaboration to sustainably conserve and manage fishery resources, including, to combat IUU fishing and enhance economy-level and regional capacity building.

1.2 Enhance capacities for and collaboration on research, science and technology application, ecosystem services*4*, conservation, restoration and sustainable development of coastal ecosystems, biodiversity and marine habitats.

1.3 Expand on-going efforts to share information on best practices on integrated sustainable management of the coastal and marine environment, including marine protected areas, to contribute substantially to blue economy and fishery biodiversity.

1.4 Promote sustainable aquaculture and fisheries practices to achieve blue economy through information sharing, capacity building, sharing of best practice, private sector stakeholders' engagement and increased cooperation on research development and innovation, taking into account ecosystems based approaches.

1.5 Encourage innovative farming and processing technologies of edible aquatic plants in the APEC region.

1.6 Expand the research and information sharing on diseases found in farmed fish populations for improved fish health.

1.7 Increase collaboration, develop integrated strategies, and enhance monitoring and research on preventing, mitigating and adapting to disasters and the impacts of ocean acidification and climate change, including sea level rise and enhanced storm surge on biodiversity, fisheries and aquaculture to reduce vulnerability.

1.8 Expand efforts on preventing and mitigating pollution, responsible waste management, and the loss or illegal discarding of fishing gear, to reduce land based and marine pollution and marine debris.

1.9 Promote innovative waste management solutions to prevent marine debris, and promote participation in the APEC Virtual Working Group on Marine Debris.

1.10 Conduct capacity building and share best practices on Blue Economy as an approach to advance sustainable management and conservation of oceans and coastal resources to foster economic growth, participate in projects and activities of the APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center (Center), and improve the Center's capacity.

Priority 2: Fish Loss Reduction. Reducing loss of fish and fish products, in terms of quality and quantity to improve food safety, to add product value and ensure food security.

2.1 Expand on-going capacity building programs to advance fish loss reduction strategies and technologies, food safety and quality standards, and value added processing of fishery products and by-products for small scale fishers, small holder farmers, cooperatives and associations, women groups and indigenous communities.

2.2 Enhance information systems to promote food safety and quality standards to small fishing communities for awareness and compliance.

2.3 Support efforts of the APEC Food Loss Multi-Year Project on sharing best practices, data, and toolkits and strengthen partnerships with the private sector on fish loss reduction strategies in particular to address the need for quality baseline data across relevant APEC sub-fora.

2.4 Encourage where appropriate, public private partnerships on investment in storage, transportation, processing, packaging, and related technical innovations and infrastructure improvements.

2.5 Enhance further collaboration on fish loss and food loss reduction efforts, including development of an integrated and comprehensive APEC-wide food loss reduction strategy.

Priority 3: Agribusiness and Blue Economy. Increasing food security and inclusive growth by promoting agribusiness, market development, and open and fair trade to enable the integration of small scale fishers and fish farmers into global food chains.

3.1 Facilitate food trade in fish and aquaculture products while ensuring the sustainability of resources and their related environment.

3.2 Enhance capacity on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), agribusiness and foster market integration and development of small-scale fishers and smallholder fish farmers, in particular women and indigenous communities into the global fish and fish food chains.

3.3 Strengthen public private partnership on improving food safety and efficiency along supply chains.

3.4 Enhance OFWG and PPFS and relevant APEC sub-fora collaboration on agribusiness in fishery and aquaculture, market development, cold chain technology, preservation practices of fish and fish products and trade in products of fisheries and aquaculture.

3.5 To ensure livelihoods of coastal communities, strengthen and improve capacity building on cold chain management and preservation practices of fish and fish products to small scale fishers, small holder fish farmers, including women, and indigenous communities.

3.6 Encourage agribusiness and market development to implement, as appropriate, certification schemes on aquatic products, and supply chain management to ensure sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, aquatic products traceability and food safety.

3.7 Expand capacity building on fish seed quality, fish product quality and food safety standards for small scale fishers and small holder fish farmers, in particular women groups.

*1* AOMM3 Paracas Declaration.

*2* FAO (2009) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009 in the Niigata Declaration on APEC Food Security 2010.

*3* FAO (2014) State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014.

*4* Note: Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems (MA 2006).