The former minister of Zero Hunger in Brazil spoke with UN News at the Global Conference on Oceans, which brought together hundreds of representatives from countries in New York.
Graziano da Silva talked about his visit to African nations in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP). South Sudan was the latest destination for the FAO chief, who also visited northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin to monitor assistance to African countries. He spoke with Monica Grayley and Eleutério Guevane from UN News.
UN News (UN): What is the FAO’s message for this Conference on Oceans, given that oceans play a fundamental role in the food chain for everyone around the world?
Graziano da Silva (GS): The message is exactly this: we want to draw attention to the fact that oceans represent a very important contribution today. And they will be even more important in the future of feeding the Earth’s population. Oceans occupy 3/4 of our planet, and today their resources are being depleted. If we do not find a way to reverse this situation, to take better care of our oceans and preserve this wealth for the future, it will compromise the sustainability of the planet. This is the FAO’s message.
UN: You have also talked about the issue of contamination in the oceans. What can the FAO do with governments, with civil society, but also with citizens? How can each citizen help in this task?
GS: Oceans have been treated like a garbage dump. Everything we don’t want on land, we throw into the sea. This long-standing conception has literally accumulated a mountain of trash in our oceans. Estimates suggest that by 2050, if we continue on the same trend, we will have the same amount of plastic in the oceans, by weight, as fish. So, we need to reverse this situation; we need to find a way to stop and clean the oceans. It’s not enough just to stop. The big challenge is also how to prevent this ongoing acidification and other forms of pollution, especially plastic pollution, from continuing to grow. There are resources for this; the technology is available today, and there is no difficulty. There is a financial issue, undoubtedly; it is cheaper to throw waste into the ocean than to treat or recycle it. But the trend points to a reversal. For example, today, recycling plastic is economically viable. The problem lies in selective collection. And here, citizens can contribute a lot: if you throw plastic together with other components (metal or even organic), start separating it. Begin separating it at home, put it in a bag, talk to your city’s waste department to see if they have a separate, specific sector for collecting this. Thousands of people around the world today live from selective collection and the income generated by recycling plastic waste. You can contribute a lot to this and help preserve the planet and the oceans.
UN: Director-General, would there be a possibility of higher taxation on industries or on those who pollute the oceans and seas, in general?
GS: Look, taxation is a mechanism that can undoubtedly be used. But it has proven to be inefficient, especially from a certain level. Every time you tax, there is an illicit way to evade that taxation. And control is very expensive. Every tax has a control mechanism that is very costly, so I am not against taxation; I think it is part of the arsenal that must be used. But I believe the main thing is really consumer education. We can do much more than we are doing, and I think that is where the secret lies. If we learn that instead of throwing away the plastic from our sandwich or packaging, we start using other forms, that can contribute a lot. If we ourselves ban plastic from our daily use, when we go to the 
supermarket, we should take our own bag. We used to do this before; why can’t we do it now? I think these are small contributions, but when put together, they are significant in combating this pollution.
UN: And now let’s talk about the Blue Economy. We were speaking with the Minister of the Sea of Portugal, and she mentioned that the equivalent of Portugal’s Gross Domestic Product from the Blue Economy is just over 3%. She said there is a lot of potential to increase this performance not only in Portugal but also in other countries. Can the FAO help in this equation?
GS: We have been working a lot with Nordic countries and also with European countries to disseminate a series of technologies. It is worth remembering that we know cod from the world, right, created by our Portuguese ancestors, a simple way of preserving fish that is now widespread around the world. This technology, for example, has been brought by the FAO to Africa, as well as smoking technology. Today we have women in Africa who use that small fish, which was previously thrown away and wasted, now utilized as a smoked product, invented, so to speak, by the FAO and disseminated in African countries, generating good income for women and greatly assisting in nutrition. Fish is the future of our food. Fish, due to its qualities and the protein it contains, is the future of human nutrition.
MONICA GRAYLEY
UN News in New York for The Brasilians Newspaper