As a response to Costa Rica’s 30×30 initiative, created by the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, a group of organizations working in the fields of fisheries, human rights and democratic sustainable development has called on the government to participate in a
democratic and earnest dialogue with fishers and mollusk catchers, in order to humanize the 30×30 initiative and reach agreements that are satisfactory and benefit all, recognize and value fishermen’s traditional knowledge in the decision-making processes, and give adequate follow-up to the dialogue.
Declaring its firm opposition to the enforcement of the 30×30 initiative in Costa Rica, the group notes that the initiative is based on exclusion, and does not respect human dignity, the fundamental right to work, the right to culture, the right to food security, and the right to tenure of land which the fishermen have ancestrally inhabited.
Asserting that they wish to live in a clean and healthy environment, enjoy basic human rights and dignity, the group says its goal is in accordance with the values of union, loyalty, alliance, honesty, perseverance, respect, social commitment and earnestness. Environmental sustainability, human rights and human dignity are all an essential part of democratic sustainable development and thus cannot be understood separately, sāys the group.
It identifies the following as the fundamental issues that negatively affect fishermen and mollusk catchers: (1) The lack of alternatives to fishing; (2) The difficulties in maintaining a dialogue between the fishers and the government; (3) The existence of an international agenda promoted by NGOs and international agencies; and (4) The generalized condition of informality of the small-scale fishermen.
On 15 October 2020, the ‘People of the Sea’ proclaimed the Declaración sobre el modelo de desarrollo en la actividad pesquera y acuícola (Declaration about the fishing and aquaculture development model). In it, the development model currently being used by the State was questioned, since “the model generates unfair and undesirable conditions, such as an increase in poverty and the exclusion of the coastal communities from the decision-making processes. This situation affects thousands of families in the coastal provinces, both in the Pacific and the Caribbean”. In the light of this scenario, inspired by the Church’s Social Doctrine, and considering the State’s duties to guarantee the common good through the fair and equitable distribution of wealth, to grant fair access to the benefits derived from the biodiversity, and the principle of democratic sustainable development, “we declare the importance of “abandoning the fake dilemma between environmental conservation and the socioeconomic wellbeing of the people and the communities”, of resorting to dialogue and the democratization of the decision-making processes,
as well as ensuring the respect for human dignity, human rights and adequate working conditions for the fishermen.”
An integral analysis of the 30×30 initiative reveals very high costs regarding the living
conditions of the coastal communities of Costa Rica, says the Declaration. It is an initiative based on exclusion, which is not respectful of human dignity, of the fundamental right to work, the human right to culture, the right to food security, and the right to the tenure of land which the fishermen have ancestrally inhabited. Due to these reasons, and in attention to the indisputable supremacy of human rights, the protection of human dignity, the concept of democratic sustainable development, and the principles of humanity and justice, the People of the Sea declares its firm opposition to the
enforcement of the 30×30 initiative in Costa Rica, as long as the terms of the project remain the same.
The People of the Sea also invites the government once again to participate in a democratic and earnest dialogue with the fishers and the mollusk catchers, with the aim to humanize the 30×30 initiative. This type of dialogue cannot be reduced to the participation in a meeting; the government must listen to the people and understand their problems, reach agreements that are satisfactory and that benefit all, recognize and value the fishermen’s traditional knowledge in the decision-making processes and give adequate follow-up to the dialogue.
The Declaration concludes: “We, the fishermen, want to live in a clean and healthy environment too, and just like everybody else, we deserve to enjoy our human rights and human dignity.”