Healthy oceans essential for combating poverty

Addressing an African ministerial conference, the head of the United Nations agricultural agency on Thursday stressed the need to mitigate the impacts of climate change and illegal fishing on oceans and coastal communities as fisheries and aquaculture emerge as driving forces behind the transformation of the continent’s economies. “Healthy and productive oceans are critical for combatting rural poverty, ensuring food security, improving nutrition and achieving zero hunger,” the Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, told the African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change, taking place in Mauritius, according to a FAO news release.