Climate Change Impact On Fisheries

THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE & VULNERABILITY ON FISHERIES IN WEST AFRICA: ECONOMICS, FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS

ABSTRACT

Considering the climate change from different global analyses, West Africa was penciled as one of the most unsafe regions to climate change threat and adverse consequences. No doubt as the harmful changes in marine ecosystem under climate change may pose consequential threats to the livelihoods and general well-being of both rural and urban communities and countries that derives their income and source of food from fisheries. Nevertheless, there is no enough quantitative and empirical studies on the possible effect of climate change on fisheries and its future impact on human well-being in West. This paper

(e.g. Hughes et al. 2003, Cheung et al. 2010, 2011, Sumaila et al. 2011). Different Marine species tend to exhibit various responses to climate change such as changes to physiology, phenology, distribution ranges and ecology (e.g. Perry et al. 2005, Cheung et al. 2009). These biological responses will on the long run affect the distribution and productivity of marine fisheries. Employing simulation models that suitable for the major biological responses to climate and ocean changes, Cheung et al. (2010) forecasted that there will be huge fall in maximum catch potential by the year 2050s and beyond in many tropical regions under the Special Report on Emissions Scenario (SRES) A1B, however, the regions with high latitude may benefit. As the economics of the fishing sector economics is closely connected to the status of fisheries resources, the forecasted changes in catch potential resulted to climate change will lead to changes in economic rent that can be derived from fisheries. The impact of climate change on the national and regional economic may come in two ways, either positive or negative depending on the particular country and fishery. For instance predicted that global warming may have positive effects on the fisheries in Iceland and Greenland and subsequently contribute positively to their gross

Rapid population growth in West Africa from 2000 to 2050 is expected to exert tremendous stress on the food security in this region (United Nations 2009). Because 40% of the population there live in coastal cities, the combination of rising sea levels and extreme weather events may cause a large group of people to move inland (Boko et al. 2007). Meanwhile, prolonged drought in the inland regions of West Africa may cause more human migration to the coastal regions (Perry and Sumaila 2007). The inland-to-coastal migration is expected to impact on employment opportunities and the exploitation of natural resources in coastal regions. Despite the considerable implications of climate change for the communities and economies in West Africa, there has not been a comprehensive study of the potential impacts on fisheries catch under climate change on the food and nutritional security and the economy in this region. This study aims to analyse the socio-economic implications of the potential catch projections under climate change (Cheung et al. 2010) by the 2050s, with an emphasis on food and nutritional security, and local economies of the region. Food security is defined as the physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet the dietary needs and food preferences for an active and