(Errata: Yesterday’s SAMUDRA News Alerts, dated 11 July 2012, carried an incorrect version of the CSO Statement made to the COFI meet at Rome. The correct version is appended below. The error is regretted. Editor.)
The voices of small-scale, artisanal and subsistence fishing communities and indigenous peoples, and their perspectives and proposals, should be reflected in the development of International Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries (VG-SSF) being prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
This plea was made in a Civil Society Organization (CSO) Statement to the ongoing 13th Session of FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) at Rome on 12 July 2012.
The Statement was read out by Cairo Roberto Laguna, an artisanal fisheries producer and vessel owner from Nicaragua, who is also President of the Nicaraguan Artisanal Fishing Federation (FENICPESCA), Secretary of the Steering Committee of the Central American Confederation of Artisanal Fishermen (CONFEPESCA) and Latin American Representative of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF).
The Statement was made on behalf of WFF, the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP), the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC).
“The development of the guidelines on small-scale fisheries presents us with a unique opportunity: the opportunity to enhance the contribution of our sector to food security and poverty eradication, to socio-cultural diversity, to decent employment and livelihoods, to local and national economies, and to the conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources, both inland and marine,” the Statement noted.
Welcoming the proposed guidelines, the Statement pointed out that a co-ordination group comprising representatives from CSO organizations has been set up to engage with the process of formulating the Guidelines.
The Statement urged COFI to respect and recognize our commitment and facilitate our further meaningful participation with this process. We urge you to ensure that our voices are well represented at the inter-governmental technical negotiations on these guidelines to be held in 2013. In particular, we request that:
A specified number of civil society representatives, nominated by us, be enabled to make interventions during plenary discussions;
Our representatives be allowed to participate in breakout sessions/working groups of the technical consultation;
Our representatives be allowed to submit and present written contributions and proposals.
Pointing out that many such steps to enhance civil society participation have been taken within earlier FAO processes, the Statement stressed: Facilitating our active participation will ensure that the Guidelines adopted represent a shared vision, and that they are owned widely, particularly by small-scale fishing communities themselves. This is essential if the guidelines are to be implemented effectively.
The Statement pointed out that the new international instrument should be global in scope so that it can be applied wherever appropriate.
The full text of the Statement can be accessed at http://www.icsf.net/en/statements.html?radio=O
For COFI Session details, please visit http://www.fao.org/cofi/cofi2012/en/
2012 ICSF