Does sustainable intensification offer a pathway to improved food security for aquatic agricultural system-dependent communities?

Abstract

Aquatic agricultural systems (AAS) are diverse production and livelihood systems that occur along inland lakes and rivers, freshwater floodplains, estuarine deltas and coasts. These diverse production systems are typically characterised by seasonal changes in productivity and water availability, driven by periodic variation in rainfall, river flow and/or coastal and marine processes (WorldFish, 2011). Globally, AAS are highly significant; first, they cover vast areas of the non-OECD 1 world, with approximately 2.5 million km2 of inland AAS coverage and a further 2 million km2 of coastal system coverage (Bene and Teoh, 2014). This represents approximately 27% of the non-OECD cultivated area. Second, an estimated 500 million people are dependent on AAS in the non-OECD world, with approximately three-quarters of this number dependent on inland systems. This represents approximately 16% of the total estimated rural population in non-OECD countries (Bene and Teoh, 2014). Within AAS, food production and livelihoods depend on diverse activities and resources. Interdependent terrestrial and aquatic resource uses include agricultural practices (e.g. fish farming, crops, livestock), considerably supplemented by wild harvested foods (e.g. caught fish) from native ecosystems. This diversity of production and resource-use options is coupled with or based on high agricultural and wild biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Community well-being within AAS heavily depends on the various ecosystem services these systems provide, as well as processes and institutions which mediate access to services. However, AAS and their beneficial characteristics are extremely sensitive to environmental changes, thus rendering communities vulnerable to ecosystem shocks and disturbances (Halwart, 2006; WorldFish, 2011; Weeratunge et al., 2012; Castine et al., 2013). Implicit in this are issues relating to rights and equitable access to the benefits of this productivity (Birch et al., 2014; Loos et al., 2014), where ‘distribution gaps’ may be more important than ‘yield gaps’ and ‘nutrition gaps’ (Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009; Tscharntke et al., 2012). Consequently, the 72productive intensification of these systems through approaches that are both ecologically meaningful and socially and economically equitable is a high priority. Box 5.1 provides an example of the complex interaction of components in the AAS of the Barotse floodplain in Zambia, and the ingenuity of those that manage and depend upon them.