Big Fish Eat Small Ones: UN Aquaculture Policy Threatens Food Security

As climate pressures intensify, geopolitical conflicts spread and the global food system becomes more concentrated, food security is already under strain. Yet the Food and Agriculture Organization is encouraging more aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, as part of its response.

The organization was created after the Second World War to help eradicate hunger and strengthen food security. The article says it has now removed a safeguard from its rules for sustainable aquaculture growth. That provision stated that expansion must not threaten the food security of the most vulnerable countries.

The removal, the article argues, represents a betrayal of the FAO’s own mission. It says the decision was influenced by Norway, the world’s largest salmon producer, citing the environmental non-governmental organization Changing Markets Foundation.

The column presents the issue as a case of larger interests consuming smaller ones. Its warning is direct: policies promoted as sustainable growth could undermine the food security protections they were supposed to preserve, particularly for vulnerable countries.