In a joint statement on the occasion of the 34th session of the FAO COFI, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements (CFFA) stated their position on agenda item 11.1: “Implementation of the FAO Strategy for Biodiversity Integration in All Sectors of Agriculture”.
These two structures underline that local participation in conservation is crucial for biodiversity, and suggest possible solutions to improve the commitment of indigenous peoples and local communities (ang. IPLCs) to marine conservation.
SSNC and CFFA welcomed the effort to integrate biodiversity in the fisheries and aquaculture sector at both species and ecosystem levels with regard to relevant institutions and conventions, such as UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as the potential implications of these processes for fisheries and aquaculture.
These organizations recall that in May 2019, the Global Assessment of the UN Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was published. The IPBES is structured around key international agreements such as the UN CBD, Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The assessment encourages countries to implement FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Artisanal Fisheries (VG-SSF).
To this end, SSNC and CAPE call on the Committee on Fisheries to “support Member States in the full and effective implementation of the VG-SSFs. Support Member States and organizations to identify marine / coastal areas already managed and protected by indigenous peoples and local communities (such as locally managed marine areas, eng. LMMAs), and ensure that these areas are formally recognized in monitoring, assessment and reporting mechanisms. In addition, support should be given to IPLCs’ own initiatives for the creation of new LMMAs”.