Under the motto ‘Small in scale, big in value’, the UN General Assembly has declared 2022 the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022), with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as its leading advocate in cooperation with other UN bodies.
The aim is to focus the world’s attention on the role of small-scale fishing, fish farmers and fish workers in food and nutrition security, as well as the eradica-tion of poverty and more sustainable use of natural resources, thereby increasing global awareness and action to support them.
40 million people are directly engaged in traditional capture fisheries worldwide. This increases to 120 mil- lion if indirectly engaged workers are also considered. Of these, 90 percent are small-scale fishers and fish workers, and almost 50 percent are women.
IYAFA 2022 affords an opportunity to highlight the importance of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture for our food systems, livelihoods, culture and the environment. Small-scale fishers, fish farmers and fish workers hold enormous potential to promote trans- formative changes in how, by whom and for whom fish and fishery products are produced, processed and distributed – with positive effects felt throughout the entire global food chain.
Aquaculture in Greenland
In 2013, Aarhus University published a study on the potential for seaweed cultivation and Greenlandic fish farming. As part of an assessment of the potential of commercial macroalgae exploitation in Greenland, trials for the cultivation of seaweed were recommend-ed, including the assessment and identification of suitable sites, where the presence of ice in particular can be a Greenlandic challenge.
Greenlandic seaweed – a part of the climate-friendly fuel of the future?
A brand new project initiated by the Greenlandic Department of Agriculture, Self-sufficiency, Energy and the Environment has led to a Nordic research team being granted funding to initiate studies of seaweed forests in Greenland. The research team shall, amongst other things, investigate whether the seaweed resource is sufficient enough to warrant large-scale harvesting of seaweed for energy utilisa- tion in the future.
Seaweed is increasingly considered to be a resource that can be utilised in the production of food and energy. In the future, Greenlandic seaweed could be included in the production of biogas, which also transforms CO2. In combination with hydrogen, which can even be sustainably produced using the country’s hydroelectric power plants, CO2 extracted from Greenlandic seaweed could potentially be used to create the climate-friendly fuel of the future.
About the artist
Miki Jacobsen, born in 1965, is a multi-disciplined artist. He was born in Paamiut, but raised in Sisimiut. He trained at the School of Art in Nuuk, and at the Danish Design School. Miki Jacobsen works in various different media, from watercolour to painting to photography, but also sculpture, from concrete objects to transitory landscapes. He has worked with decorations, illustrations, children’s books, and various projects within theatre, film and music. Several of his works are on display in Nuuk Art Museum. Moreover, a landmark sculpture by Miki Jacobsen stands outside the Joint Arctic Command building in Nuuk.
Miki Jacobsen is a member of KIMIK, the association of artists in Greenland. This is his 31st stamp for Tusass Greenland since his stamp debut in 1992.
