Declaration of Charter

Document : Declaration of Charter

Declaration of Charter

The following Declaration of Charter was adopted at the workshop on “Fisheries and Marine Reserves in India, held in New Delhi, India

The New Delhi Greenpeace Workshop was conducted during 8-10 October 2007

Over 50 participants, from across different sections of societyState-level traditional fisher representatives and national functionaries, conservation and environmental groups, fishworker, civil society groups and marine park managers, scientists, academics and experts, were involved in a three-day workshop, between 8 and 10 October 2007, on “Fisheries and Marine Reserves in India and their relevance.

The objective of the workshop was to facilitate a movement towards sustainable models of development and resource utilization, in order to protect and preserve India’s seas and coastal zone for the present and future generations.

The workshop covered discussions and sessions on preserving the health and productivity of India’s oceans, and examined mechanisms and options by which the participants can work together to achieve common goals. This included providing an overview of the scientific, institutional and evaluative experiences on marine reserves as a tool for conservation of biodiversity and enhancing fisheries.

Declaration

Conscious of the importance of fisheries as a vital sector of development and high dependence of millions of fisher and coastal communities on the ocean and the coastal environment for their food and livelihood security;

Recognizing that marine ecosystems, in particular, coastal ecosystems, are rich spawning and breeding grounds, and provide vital coastal-protection benefits;

Concerned that the marine environment and, in particular, coastal ecosystems, are under increasing threat of degradation of habitats and depletion of resources resulting from overexploitation and overcapacity, discharge of pollutants from land and at sea, destructive infrastructural and industrial projects, existing and proposed, and impacts of activities such as agriculture, intensive aquaculture and forestry; and the adverse impact of these on the livelihoods of traditional fishing communities and other dependent communities,

This assembly of concerned fishing community representatives, scientists, academics and experts, environmental, conservation and civil society groups hereby declares that it will:

Commit to promote greater co-operation and co-ordination amongst groups concerned with coastal, marine and ocean issues?with equal emphasis on conservation of marine ecosystems and ensuring that the livelihoods of communities dependent on these resources are sustained.

Strongly recommend

1.    The sharing of scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom, expertise and experience on ecosystem-based management approaches, especially in the context of balancing conservation and livelihoods.

2.    The promotion of scientific research and long-term continuous monitoring of ecosystems.

3.    The promotion of scientific research and long-term continuous monitoring of the socio-economic development of the fishing communities.

Demand that the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of India should be retained as common property and heritage.

Recommend the enactment of an overarching and comprehensive legislation, which is justiciable, with the following elements:

• Covers the Indian EEZ and coastal zone, based on the ecosystem approach, precautionary principle and polluter-pays principle, to ensure sustainability of both the seas’ resources and livelihoods and intergenerational equity.
• This would include setting aside sufficient marine reserves, with legislative support, for the conservation and restoration of the India’s coastal and marine biodiversity and to serve as fish reserves. This would be done in consultation with, and participation of, local communities.
• Ensure local community participation in all aspects of decision making and implementation with regard to conservation and management of fishery resources and developmental activities. This should involve a Local Management Network (including community, civil society and governments), which should address social- security concerns such as compensation, sharing of benefits, education and employment.
• Should be in consonance with international instruments on conservation and management, for example, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• Should uphold the inalienable traditional and customary rights of fishing communities.
• Its implementation should be transparent, with provisions for social auditing and stringent penalties.
• Prevent, prohibit and regulate all destructive fishing practices. With regard to overcapacity, the process of phasing out should be from bigger to smaller craft and gear.
• All activities impacting the marine environment, such as ocean dumping and other land-based activities, should be strictly regulated under this legislation. Further, any intervention in the EEZ should be subjected to an environmental impact assessment with a clear, legally mandated mechanism to ensure impartiality and objectivity.
• Legislative support for aquarian reforms. In fisheries and other marine-related issues in existing laws)

And until such a legislation is in place, as an interim measure, the implementation authorities be equipped with adequate resources for the enforcement of existing rules and regulations.

For More

www.mpaglobal.org
Searchable Database on the World’s MPAs

www.fao.org/fi/website/FIRetrieveAction.do?dom=org&xml=mpas.xml
FAO’s Site on MPAs as a Tool for Fisheries Management