Coastal fishing communities can be powerful allies in the efforts to conserve, restore and protect coastal and marine biodiversity, the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) said in a Statement to the High-Level Segment of the 11th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 18 October 2012 at Hyderabad, India.
However, the Statement added, critical to this involvement is the need to recognize, protect and strengthen their rights to access and use biodiversity in a responsible manner, to pursue sustainable livelihoods, and to participate in decision-making and resource management processes at all levels.
About 400 mn people worldwide are estimated to depend on inland and marine fisheries and fish farming for a livelihood, the Statement noted. Most of them are in the artisanal and small-scale sector in the tropical multi-species fisheries of the developing world.
Coastal and indigenous fishing communities have a long-term stake in the conservation and protection of biodiversity, given their reliance on coastal and marine biodiversity for livelihoods and income, the ICSF Statement pointed out.
Generations of close interaction with the coastal ecosystem have led to well-developed traditional ecological knowledge systems (TEKS). This knowledge is manifested in numerous ways, as in the diversity, selectivity and ecological sophistication of the craft and gear used, in the intimate knowledge of weather and climate-related factors, and in the varied ways in which coastal resources are used for medicinal and other purposes. Such TEKS have contributed to sustain both the livelihoods of these communities and the integrity of the ecosystems. Such TEKS have formed the basis of numerous systems for management of resources that have been documented across the world, the Statement elaborated.
Recognition of their rights would provide an enabling framework for coastal fishing communities to fulfil their responsibilities towards biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use, and would contribute to the overall objectives of the CBD, the Statement stressed.
ICSF expressed concern that such issues are not well enough reflected in the programme of work on marine and coastal biodiversity, and in actual initiatives for management and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity on the ground.
ICSF studies undertaken in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America have documented many cases of displacement/disenfranchisement of local small-scale fishing communities and violations of their human rights due to marine protected area (MPA) practice
In its Statement, ICSF pledged to continue to work to document such cases, as well as cases of good practice, including management systems of indigenous peoples and local communities, and to bring it to the attention of all, “to achieve our common objective: protection of biodiversity and the livelihoods and cultures of local and small-scale fishing communities.”
The complete Statement can be found at http://www.icsf.net/en/statements.html?radio=I
2012 ICSF