During the Stakeholders Interventions on the zero draft of the second 2022 UN Ocean Conference Declaration, Vivienne Solis of CoopeSoliDar R.L-Costa Rica, on behalf of the UN Women Major Group, the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) Consortium and the ‘Rise Up’ movement, pointed out the importance of sharing and implementing the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) through concrete national policies.
Noting that small-scale fisheries (SSF), a very diverse and dynamic way of life interwined with cultural diversity and livelihoods, employ more than 90 percent of the world’s capture fishers and fishworkers, about half of whom are women, Solis bemoaned the fact that despite this importance, small-scale fishing communities, fishing indigenous peoples, fisherwomen and fishermen continue to be marginalized and their contribution to food security, nutrition, marine conservation and management of marine resources remains undervalued and under-recognized worldwide.
Solis proposed that the role of artisanal small-scale fishers in conservation of ocean, food security and poverty erradication be recognized, especially that of fisher- and mollusk-gatherer women along the different value chains pre- and post-fishing. Solis also pointed to the need for a more integral ecosystem approach that provides social development, employment and decent work to this sector.
Solis also suggested adding, in the Commitment Section of the Stakeholders Interventions, the need to share and implement the SSF Guidelines through concrete national policies. The generation of official information at the national level must be promoted in a holistic manner that recognizes the human-rights approach to marine conservation.
The inputs of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) in the governance of marine territories must be recognized and integrated into communitary governance models at the global level.
IPLC are working hard to govern and manage their territories and areas in ways that are environmentally, socially, culturally and economically sustainable. IPLC are doing this through a diversity of approaches, cultural and livelihood practices, and activities that contribute to conservation. These efforts should be recognized, Solis concluded.
Full statement is available at: https://demo2.icsf.net/resources/share-and-implement-the-ssf-guidelines/