This report presents the outcomes of the Ecological Risk Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change on Fisheries and Aquaculture Resources workshop held from 25-27 October 2017 in Lima, Peru.
The workshop aimed to:
– To raise awareness through objective, flexible and cost-effective ecological risk assessment tools that will be used to prioritize future research and management investment for developing adaptation responses to climate change.
– Socialize participants’ local experience with different specialist and non-specialist stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region, benefiting researchers of public, private and academic entities.
– Increase knowledge about environmental parameters that determine potential impacts of climate change, and about life-history stages, habitats, fisheries and aquaculture resources that are more vulnerable to climate change.
The final recommendations provided by the APEC economies representatives were:
1. Climate Vulnerability Assessments must be adapted and applied to the particular situations of each economy/region.
2. Implementation of Climate Vulnerability Assessments at different levels (e.g. species, industries, areas) will allow a better understanding of the risks of the systems of interest.
3. It is key to include socio-economic vulnerability assessments, as livelihoods in several economies are already being threatened by Climate Change.
4. It is necessary to encourage a closer and permanent collaboration between ecologists, economists and sociologists, and other human dimension experts.
5. It is crucial to involve actively the local communities and other stakeholders, in particular policy makers, for co-planning assessments and adaptation measures.
6. Climate Change must be communicated better at the policy level to facilitate its perception and implementation.
Reference (open):
APEC Ocean and Fisheries Working Group. 2017. Ecological Risk Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change on Fisheries and Aquaculture Resources. Peru, 25 – 27 October 2017. 161 p.
https://www.apec.org/Publications/2017/12/Ecological-Risk-Assessment-of-Impacts-of-Climate-Change-on-Fisheries-and-Aquaculture-Resources
