：Approximately 200 million people in Africa derive high-quality and low-cost proteins from fish. However, the consumption of fish is not fully exploited to combat the “triple burden” of malnutrition—obesity, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies which are the leading causes of poor health in the region. There is still limited knowledge on quantitative information to guide policy makers in developing evidence-based actions that can improve the availability of and access to nutritious food for healthy and sustained diets among children and care givers. In this paper, we review the available literature with the aim of assessing and quantifying the extent to which fish contributes towards fighting food and nutrition insecurity in the Eastern Africa subregion. Key results reveal the region is characterized by fish supply deficits, and hence, low levels of fish consumed per person. Nonetheless, the increase in fish imports, and the growing supply of fish from aquaculture are likely to improve the per-capita fish intake. Fish trade is generally bidirectional, with exports exceeding imports in value terms, while significant challenges still hinder domestic and intra-regional fish trade. The Eastern Africa region is projected to realize increased fish consumption from 4.80 kg in 2013 to 5.49 kg by 2022. Rising population growth and income levels imply that the region will need 2.49 million tonnes of fish to fill the demand–supply gaps. We recommend that food security and nutritional programmes should recognize the potential of fish in providing essential micronutrients from the aspects of improved dietary quality, nutritional status, and general wellbeing of the region’s fast growing population.

In Africa, many governments and development agencies have promoted aquaculture as a panacea for household food security, rural development, and poverty reduction. However, aquaculture production in the continent remains low despite significant investments in research and technology development. While numerous initiatives have been directed at technological innovation and transfer, their present scale of uptake is very slow and therefore inadequate to achieve transformational change envisaged in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. In this paper, we aim to (1) critically analyze the factors that influence fish farmer’s perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors toward technology adoption; and (2) to determine the impacts of technology adoption on farmer’s livelihoods. Primary data were collected using a self-administered digitized questionnaire to 331 randomly selected farmers in Kenya. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze data. Results revealed that variables including secondary education, diversified on-farm activities, farm size, production levels, attendance of extension training, ease of understanding, and ease of handling technologies were positive and significant predictors of aquaculture technology adoption. However, 30% of fish farmers were categorized as high adopters of novel aquaculture technologies, implying that there are gaps in technical skills hindering adoption of innovative technologies and best management practices. To facilitate learning and uptake of technologies and good practices by farmers, a range of aquaculture-related extension and communication materials, including posters, hard copy information leaflets and brochures of recipes in appropriate languages, short video presentations, and radio features, should be commissioned to support the smallholder farmers.

Africa is experiencing extensive biodiversity loss due to rapid changes in the environment, where natural resources constitute the main instrument for socioeconomic development and a mainstay source of livelihoods for an increasing population. Lack of data and information deficiency on biodiversity, but also budget constraints and insufficient financial and technical capacity, impede sound policy design and effective implementation of conservation and management measures. The problem is further exacerbated by the lack of harmonized indicators and databases to assess conservation needs and monitor biodiversity losses. We review challenges with biodiversity data (availability, quality, usability and database access) as a key limiting factor that impacts funding and governance. We also evaluate the drivers of both ecosystems change and biodiversity loss as a central piece of knowledge to develop and implement effective policies. While the continent focuses more on the latter, we argue that the two are complementary in shaping restoration and management solutions. We thus underscore the importance of establishing monitoring programmes focusing on biodiversity–ecosystem linkages in order to inform evidence-based decisions in ecosystem conservation and restoration in Africa. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions’.