The Global Conference on Aquaculture Millennium+20 will be held in Shanghai on September 22-25, 2021. The Global Conference on Aquaculture (GCA+20), organized once every 10 years, is a high-level intergovernmental conference initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This year’s GCA is the fourth one since its inception. For the first time, this once-a-decade event is to be hosted in China, a world-leading fisheries country and the largest aquaculture producer. China will capitalize on this opportunity to present a panoramic view of the achievements and experience of China's aquaculture industry to the world, showcase China’s image as a responsible major country in aquaculture production. In addition, China will conduct extensive international exchanges with other countries, and contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to the sustainable development of global aquaculture.

The conference is co-organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China (MARA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), and jointly hosted by the Bureau of Fisheries of MARA, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Lin-gang Special Area Administration, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Shanghai Ocean University (SHOU). The Agricultural Bank of China (Shanghai Branch) serves as the financial institution strategic partner of the conference. Under the theme of “Aquaculture for Food and Sustainable Development”, the conference will review achievements in global aquaculture over the past decade, analyze the opportunities, problems and challenges arising during the process, share successful experiences, and set the direction and key measures for the next decade to promote high-quality, green development of global aquaculture. And Shanghai Declaration is expected to release.

During the conference, in response to FAO’s “Hand in Hand” initiative to promote South-South cooperation among developing countries and tighten the partnership between developing and developed countries for sustainable aquaculture, MARA will host “The South-South and Triangular Cooperation High-level Roundtable Meeting for Sustainable Aquaculture Development”. Ministers and envoys of about 20 countries and representatives of international organizations have confirmed to attend the roundtable. The 4-day conference offers 3 keynote presentations, 3 plenary presentations, 9 thematic reviews, an exhibition of China’s aquaculture achievements, and more than 100 academic posters. Registered participants are welcome to give online comments on each report. Besides, GCA will endorse and adopt the Shanghai Declaration. Embracing the key words of “Connection, Collaboration and Engagement”, the Shanghai Declaration aims to provide a roadmap for aquaculture to optimize its role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Shanghai Ocean University, founded in 1912, is one of the hosts of the conference. It has been listed by the Chinese Ministry of Education as one of the national “World-class Discipline Construction Universities” since September 2017, with Aquaculture as its A+ discipline. The aquaculture discipline boasts of a century-old history and a strong scientific prowess. SHOU is the incubator for a galaxy of famous ichthyologists including Zhu Yuanding, Meng Qingwen and Wu Hanlin, and a host of outstanding aquaculture experts such as Tan Yujun, “Father of pond culture”, Wang Wu, a dedicated practitioner of “writing thesis by field investigations on lakes while leaving research achievements on aquaculture farms”, Li Sifa, the first Chinese winner of the lifetime achievement award granted by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, and Wang Daozun, founder of Chinese aquatic animal nutrition and feed science. In the meantime, the university has cultivated numerous aquaculture professionals for both China and the world. For a long time, Shanghai Ocean University has been committed to developing global aquaculture, facilitating researches related to international aquaculture, aquatic products processing and fisheries resources management, training global aquaculture talents, and contributing Chinese aquaculture wisdom. In the early days after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, SHOU fostered multiple senior aquaculture professionals and management personnel for Vietnam and other developing countries for 12 consecutive years, and was thus awarded the Friendship Medal by the Chairman of Vietnam. Meanwhile, the university has made positive contributions to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in ending poverty in all its forms everywhere and ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. For many years, active efforts have been made in the training programs for aquatic science and technology professionals for more than 20 countries, including French Polynesia, Ghana, Thailand and Malaysia. In recent years, SHOU has taken the initiative to introduce integrated rice fish farming technology to serve the countries along Lancang River and Mekong River, jointly organized international symposiums on integrated rice fish farming with FAO in 2018 and 2019, and shared experience and innovative approaches with representatives from rice producing countries in Africa, Latin America and other regions, so as to promote poverty reduction by aquaculture. FAO Aquaculture Newsletter FAN 61 issued by FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division introduced “The International Symposium on Integrated Agro-Aquaculture Innovations and Social Impact: Rice-Fish Farming” co-organized by SHOU and FAO in April 2020. FAO’s GLOBEFISH and Shanghai Ocean University team up to promote international fish trade. This exemplary partnership producing fruitful global research cooperation has been reported in a special article on FAO’s official website. Besides, it held the China-ASEAN Dean’s Forum on Fisheries Education and Postgraduate’s Workshop on Sustainable Aquaculture, and carried out relevant cooperation and research exchanges with the Department of Fisheries of Thailand and signed implementation agreements on fisheries and aquaculture cooperation. After improving and enriching the varieties of tilapia introduced from Africa and conducting research on the integrated breeding technology system, the university launched the talent training project entitled “Bringing Tilapia back to Africa” to train aquatic technology professionals, thereby helping African countries improve their tilapia breeding technology.

With no time to rest on its laurels, Shanghai Ocean University is forging ahead to make even greater contributions to the green development of global aquaculture.