Through WorldFish’s AABS project, a pioneering South-South collaboration platform is being developed between Asia and Africa. The aim is to adapt and scale proven aquatic food systems technologies through knowledge sharing and co-learning across the two continents.
In 2023, AABS brought together research, conservation, development and policy experts from the small-scale coastal fisheries and aquaculture sector in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Mozambique for its inception workshop, held on October 9–12 in Penang, Malaysia.
Many coastal communities in the global South earn a living from diverse but low-yielding SSF and aquaculture. These livelihoods are jeopardized by overfishing, degradation of marine ecosystems, and the impacts of climate change on oceanic waters.
The AABS, a 7-year project funded by the UK Government, seeks to address these challenges through four interconnected work packages:
- Digital Coasts
- Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture
- Climate-Smart Technologies for Reducing Aquatic Food Loss and Waste
- Incentives for Coastal Conservation and Fisheries Management.
The inception workshop and the ensuing rollout of theory of change workshops in countries are convening all actors—from fishers to local associations and government officials. Together, they are mapping out insights, challenges and a way forward, designing AABS from the ground up to tailor solutions to local contexts over the two phases of the project.
Over the course of the project, AABS aims to establish a robust knowledge exchange forum by connecting coastal communities in Asia and Africa to scale out nature-positive solutions for SSF and aquaculture that will help alleviate poverty and restore coastal ecosystems.
