ICSF CONFERENCE/ WORKSHOP STATEMENTS

• Marine Protected Areas: Small-scale Fishing Community Perspectives (ICSF Recommendations from the Workshop on Social Dimensions of Marine Protected Areas, 08-09 Feb 2008, Rome, Italy)
  Governance, participation and process, capacity building and socio-economic data are some of the important issues that need to be addressed for effective MPA management. The workshop highlighted these issues, and presented recommendations to the WGPA
  
• Siem Reap Statement (Asserting Rights, Defining Responsibilities: Perspectives from Small-scale Fishing Communities on Coastal and Fisheries Management in Asia; Siem Reap, Cambodia; 03-05 May 2007)
  Externally conceived, non-participatory marine protected areas (MPAs) exclude access of small-scale fishers—even those using selective gear—to their fishing grounds, and displace them from their habitations. Only the active involvement of local communities at all stages of planning and implementation of conservation and management initiatives will lead to responsible and effective biodiversity conservation and management

ICSF STATEMENTS

• Statement made on Agenda Item 4.9: Coastal and Marine Biodiversity
  calls on Parties to integrate the scientific, technical and technological knowledge of local and indigenous communities (in keeping with Article 8(j) of the Convention), and to ensure the integration of social and cultural criteria, for the identification of marine areas in need of protection.
• Intervention on Agenda Item 3.1 and 3.2, Second meeting of the Ad-hoc Working Group of Protected Areas, CBD (Rome, Italy, 12 Feb 2008)
  ...direct participation of fishing communities, implement programme element 2, reporting on marine protected areas, specific toolkits in the context of fishing communities, databases with gender segregated baseline socioeconomic data, and a multi-stakeholder coordination committee with Indigenous peoples and local communities as rights holders, is essential 
• Agenda Item 10: Implementing the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Including Deep-Sea Fisheries, Biodiversity Conservation, Marine Debris and Abandoned Gear. 27th Session of COFI (Rome, Italy; 08 March 2007)
  ..the FAO and Member States should pay particular attention to the social dimensions of MPAs in the technical guidelines that are being developed on the design and implementation and testing of MPAs and in keeping with the Programme Element 2 on Governance, Equity and Benefit Sharing under the Programme of Work on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity
• Seventh Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (New York, USA; 12-16 June 2006)
  The implementation of MPAs has been mentioned by several delegations as an ecosystem-based management (EBM) measure in their coastal areas. Some of the no-take MPAs in developing countries have, in particular, been causing severe hardship to artisanal fishers by displacing them from, or denying them access to, their traditional fishing grounds. It is, therefore, important to consider creating MPAs in a participatory and consultative manner, sensitive to the needs and aspirations of coastal fishing communities, within a sustainable fisheries framework
• Discussion Panel A: Fisheries and their Contribution to Sustainable Development (Sixth Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea; New York, USA; 6-10 June 2005)
  While adopting coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) and turtle conservation programmes, it is important to consider inclusive programmes whereby coastal fishing communities could participate in such programmes and whereby their access rights to fishing grounds are adequately protected. Coastal fishing communities should be seen as allies in the conservation of marine coastal biodiversity
• Technical Consultation on Sea Turtles Conservation and Fisheries (Bangkok, Thailand; 29 Nov - 2 Dec 2004)
  Traditional fishing communities have co-existed for centuries in harmony with populations of turtles and other marine resources. Fishing communities can be considered natural allies in turtle conservation programmes. It is a matter of great concern, however, that conservation programmes to protect turtles have, in some cases, jeopardized livelihoods of small-scale and traditional fishworkers
• Agenda Item 18.2: Thematic Programme of Work: Marine and Coastal Biodiversity (Seventh Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 7) to the Convention on Biological Diversity; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 09- 20 Feb 2004)
  Recognition of rights would provide an enabling framework for coastal fishing communities to fulfil their responsibilities towards biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use, and would contribute to the overall objectives of the CBD, namely, the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources

NGO/ FWO STATEMENTS

• Civil Society Statement on Implementation of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas, Second meeting of the Ad-hoc Open-ended Working Group on Protected Areas (Rome, Italy, 11 Feb 2008)
  ....need for cultural and social criteria for identifying and establishing protected areas, effective legal, policy and institutional mechanisms, democratic process of planning, and committed funding, are concerns of the civil society organizations, raised at the WGPA-2
  
• Anglo-phone Africa Subregional Workshop on the Review of, and Capacity Building for, the Implementation of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas (Cape Town, South Africa 13-16 August 2007)
  Indigenous peoples, local communities and traditional fisher folks are hereby emphasizing the importance of collaborating and working in partnership with the CBD secretariat, our respective national governments and other stakeholders in achieving the 2010 and 2012 biodiversity targets and the implementation of the programme of work on protected areas