Civil society workshop calls on FAO, govts to recognize, guarantee rights of small-scale, indigenous fishing communities
Date: 13-10-2008
Source: ICSF
Samudra Exclusive
Representatives of small-scale fishing communities and indigenous communities dependent on fisheries for life and livelihood, and their supporters, have called on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), other UN agencies, regional fisheries bodies and national governments to recognize and guarantee access rights of small-scale and indigenous fishing communities to territories, lands and waters on which they have traditionally depended for their life and livelihoods.
In a Statement from the Civil Society Workshop preparatory to the FAO Global Conference on Small-scale Fisheries, held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 11 to 13 October 2008, 95 participants from 38 countries called on the FAOs Committee on Fisheries (COFI) to include a specific chapter in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) on small-scale fisheries, recognizing the obligations of States towards them.
The Civil Society Statement called for a guarantee of equal participation of small-scale and indigenous fishing communities in fisheries and coastal management decision-making, ensuring their free, prior and informed consent to all management decisions.
The Civil Society Statement builds on prior preparatory processes, in particular the Statement developed by the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) and preparatory workshops by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and other organizations, held in Asia (Siem Reap, Cambodia), Eastern and Southern Africa (Zanzibar, Tanzania), and Latin America (Punta de Tralca, Chile).
The Civil Society Statement addresses the three themes that the FAO Global Conference on Small-scale Fisheries, due to begin in Bangkok later today and running from 13 to 17 October 2008, has identified for discussion, namely, (a) securing access rights; (b) securing post-harvest rights; and (c) securing human rights.
The Civil Society Statement declares that the human rights of fishing communities are indivisible, and that the development of responsible and sustainable small-scale and indigenous fisheries is possible only if their political, civil, social, economic and cultural rights are addressed in an integrated manner.
The Civil Society Statement also declares that the dependence of fishing communities on aquatic and coastal living natural resources is shaped by life and livelihood needs in the struggle to eradicate poverty, secure their well-being and express their cultural and spiritual values.
Recognizing the complementarity and interdependency of fisheries-related activities within fishing communities, and the interconnectedness between the health and well-being of coastal communities and that of aquatic ecosystems, the Civil Society Statement calls for the establishment of small–scale fisheries as the preferred model for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
It further demands the establishment and enforcement of measures to prohibit industrial fishing in inshore waters; prohibit all destructive fishing practices and gear, and illegal fishing; reverse and prevent the privatization of fisheries resources, as through individual transferable quotas (ITQs) and similar systems that promote property rights; and reverse and prevent the displacement of fishing communities through the privatization of waters and lands of fishing communities for activities that include tourism, aquaculture, defence/military establishments, conservation and industry.
The declaration, establishment and management of marine protected areas (MPAs) should bindingly involve the active participation of local communities and small-scale fishers, the Civil Society Statement demands, while also calling for the integration of traditional and indigenous knowledge systems and customary law into fisheries management decision-making.
The Civil Society Statement also recognizes the responsibility, as representatives and supporters of the small-scale and indigenous fisheries, to assist local communities who have so far been marginalized to claim their rights at national levels.
The Civil Society Statement concludes by reiterating the Workshop participants' deep sense of urgency about the neglect of small-scale and indigenous fisheries and demand immediate action to avert impending disaster and conflict.
The full text of the Civil Society Statement can be found at
http://sites.google.com/site/smallscalefisheries/statement
|
©2008 ICSF
Theme(s):
Communities and Organisations
|
