Women’s roles in the fisheries value chain are often unrecognized or under-valued, leading to lost opportunities in fishery management, and the perpetuation of gender inequalities. A new report by the Secretariat to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has highlighted the need for a gender analysis in fisheries, to draw out the different roles and contributions of women and the relationships between key actors. This, the report says, is necessary in order to target assistance, and empower women for the sustainable management of their fisheries and coastal resources.
The report, titled ‘Addressing Gender Issues and Actions in Biodiversity Objectives’, sets out key gender issues that influence the achievement of biodiversity objectives, and suggests actions for the realization of gender-responsive biodiversity outcomes, citing several illustrative examples. Terming gender a game-changer to accelerate progress on meeting the objectives of the CBD conservation, sustainable use and the equitable sharing of the benefits of biological and genetic diversity the report refers to the principles of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) to secure the tenure rights of fishing communities (men and women), foster co-management, and enhance access to credit and extension services.
Citing several gender and biodiversity linkages, the report lays out a few key gender issues in fisheries namely, the lack of recognition of women’s roles in fisheries and resource management; their under-representation in fisheries governance institutions from local to global levels; and the lack of sex-disaggregated data on the sector.
The report also recommends adapting the SSF Guidelines for implementation at national and local levels to achieve gender and biodiversity outcomes.
The report can be accessed at:
https://www.cbd.int/gender/doc/cbd-towards2020-gender_integration-en.pdf
2019 ICSF