Anna Farmery, IMAS

Venue:  Taroona seminar room
Date:  28 May 2012
Time:  11:30 AM

Abstract:
Our ability to achieve and maintain global food security is under increasing pressure with the combined impacts of climate change, resource competition, environmental degradation, growing demand for animal protein and volatility of the international economy. While these issues will further challenge food insecure countries, they have also raised questions about the ability of food secure countries, such as Australia, to continue producing and accessing enough quality food.

The production of food has improved dramatically since the Green Revolution and the proportion of hungry people on the planet has declined. However, in our efforts to provide enough food we have been undermining our ability to continue to do so. The food system itself has become a major contributor to environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. Food systems in Australia, and globally, therefore need to be managed sustainably to address environmental impacts resulting from activities along the entire food chain, including farming or harvesting, processing, packaging, transport, and disposal.

Seafood provides a unique case study as it is typically left out of debate on food security, despite playing an important role as a source of protein and micronutrients and as a source of income. Seafood is one of the world’s most highly traded commodities and Australia is becoming increasingly dependent on imports from developing countries which have little data on the status of their own fisheries yet rely on the foreign income generated through the sector. Increased reliance on seafood imports into Australia therefore raises issues around the environmental footprint of the products and the implications for Australian and international food security.

In this research the resource use and impacts of selected Australian wild capture fishery products will be examined to better understand their overall footprint and to identify potential areas for improvement. Life cycle assessment will be used to measure the footprint of wild caught seafood, and then define their comparative performance with other products including from imported seafood, aquaculture and agriculture. The results will be used to help develop more environmentally appropriate food systems and to inform emerging food policy in Australia.