Terrestrial versus aquatic foods: how more seafood can help to conserve life below water

Holger Kühnhold and Furqan Asif

Chapter 20 in The Elgar Companion to Food System Transformation for Sustainable Development, 2026, pp 262-283 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Healthy oceans are critical not only for climate stability, biodiversity, and ecosystem well-being but also for livelihoods and food security. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) “Life Below Water” emphasises the need to protect and sustainably utilise oceans, seas, and marine resources. Yet, the global status of SDG 14 shows we are not on track to achieve the targets. Given the intricate interplay between food production, consumption, and ocean health, it is essential to adopt a comprehensive approach that places environmental stewardship above competing priorities like economic growth and profits. In this chapter, the authors propose an approach to reconciling seafood consumption with conserving the oceans and achieving SDG 14 by emphasising the need to look at both the ecological and the social dimensions of seafood together. In terms of the environmental dimension, efforts should focus on reducing the impact of terrestrial food production, in particular to combat marine eutrophication; shifting consumption towards extractive, non-fed species to promote restorative rather than environmentally damaging forms of aquaculture; and redistributing lower-trophic species of capture fisheries from their use in aquaculture feed input to direct human consumption. For the social dimension, the authors stress the need to focus on improving seafood availability, access, and utilisation; regulation and management of seafood production; and increasing collaboration for knowledge production and transfer. In achieving seafood system transformation, we must consider the social and ecological aspects of seafood collectively, moving from “seafood for some” to “seafood for all.”

Keywords: SDG14; Marine Resources; Food Systems; Transformation; Thropic Boundaries; Social-ecological Approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332847
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