Inland small-scale fisheries are a source of employment, income and food security for millions of men and women fishers, fishworkers and indigenous peoples in many parts of the world, both in developed and developing countries, according to a Statement made by the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF), the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty on 13 July 2016 at Rome, Italy at the 32nd Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This fact is often overlooked in the dialogue on marine fisheries. Inland fisheries often have cultural significance in the fishery traditions of indigenous peoples and traditional inland fishing communities, the Statement notes. It adds that the legal and policy space accorded to inland fisheries in the context of sfreshwater resources is often minimal and the consumptive use of water resources is typically given disproportional priority over non-consumptive uses such as fisheries. Equitable and reasonable utilization of water resources is essential to protect the life and livelihoods of inland fishing communities and indigenous peoples, to conserve aquatic genetic resources and biodiversity on which we all depend, but especially to conserve those small indigenous freshwater species such as dagaa and mola that provide essential nutrients to the poor, particular rural women and children in Africa and Asia, the Statement says. The Statement urged FAO member countries and the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) to recognize this importance and vigorously champion for equitable allocation of freshwater resources and riparian areas to secure sustainable small-scale inland fisheries in the context of food security, poverty eradication, livelihood protection and social justice, including gender justice. It further urged FAO member countries to achieve this by protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and the rights of access and control of inland fishing communities using the twin frameworks of the SSF Guidelines and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The Statement strongly supported the endorsement of the proposed ten steps (The Rome Declaration: Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries, FAO 2015) to responsible inland fisheries for future activities related to food security, livelihood protection and poverty alleviation. These steps should also provide for livelihood support to riparian and inland fishing communities and include them in decisionmaking. The traditional knowledge of inland fishing communities should be acknowledged in policymaking and resource management.In relation to step 6, viz., improvement of governance, especially for shared waterbodies, the Statement drew COFI’s attention to a regional civil society workshop, titled Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Mekong Region: SSF Guidelines in Action, held in Thailand during 30 April to 1 May 2016, which recognized the importance of improving governance, especially for shared waterbodies. The Statement drew the attention of COFI to the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNWC), which entered into force in August 2014 and which has the competence to deal with governance of non-consumptive use of international watercourses. It urged the application of this Convention to manage transboundary inland fishery resources in the work of FAO, particularly in the context of inland fisheries. The Statement ended by requesting the Chairperson to adopt an inclusive approach to inland fisheries by extending the proposed ten steps to inland fishing for diadromous species, as well as to all fisheries including brackishwater fisheries on the landward side of the shoreline. The Statement was made by Editrudith Lukanga of WFF on 13 July 2016 at Rome, Italy.