{"id":47522,"date":"2021-06-16T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev6.blazedream.in\/ICSF\/samudra\/the-responsibility-of-stewardship"},"modified":"2021-08-19T05:35:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T05:35:53","slug":"the-responsibility-of-stewardship","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/the-responsibility-of-stewardship\/","title":{"rendered":"The Responsibility of Stewardship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synthesis : SIEM REAP MEET<\/span><\/p>\n

The Responsibility of Stewardship<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Siem Reap meet demonstrated collective goodwill and an impressive commitment to strengthening rights, shouldering responsibilities and finding spaces in the fast-changing coasts and wetlands of Asia<\/span><\/p>\n

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This synthesis of the Siem Reap Workshop and Symposium is by Edward Allison<\/b> (E.Allison@uea.ac.uk<\/a>) of the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Siem Reap Workshop and Symposium resulted in five days of intensive dialogue and learning on the rights and responsibilities of small-scale fisheries in the context of coastal and wetland management. It was a period of respectful exchange of experiences and views. As outsiders, we have gained the view of much collective goodwill, impressive commitment to strengthening rights and shouldering responsibilities, and finding spaces in the fast-changing coasts and wetlands of Asia. <\/span><\/p>\n

This commitment was demonstrated by fishworkers themselves, by their supporters and by their governments, who have proved willing to undertake wide-ranging reforms. There is also increasing consensus among the international organizations. It is a good time to be fighting for your rights, because there are more people listening, and in sympathy, than there may have been 20 years ago. So although you may be fighting the same battles, you have more allies and sympathizers now, perhaps. But this is no reason for complacency. While in the past, there may have been more ideological opposition to small-scale artisanal production from the modernizing State, now there may be benign neglect from the neoliberal State and world order. <\/span><\/p>\n

The fight for rights also constitutes a means of creating new institutions, as exemplified by the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC<\/span><\/span>), which seems to have fully appreciated the link between responsible fisheries and wider rights. <\/span><\/p>\n

The shift in rights to Cambodia’s fisherfolk has been demonstrated in actual practice, with, for example, 509 community fisheries organizations now operating in the Tonle Sap Lake. The RGC<\/span><\/span>‘s pioneering and socially responsible actions in the fisheries sector are a fine example of what we are all striving towards.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the core of the Siem Reap Workshop and Symposium processes has been the series of case studies from fishing communities struggling to claim what they are entitled to by lawin other words, their rights. It is impossible, in this short summary, to do justice to that richness of experience and it is invidious to pick out examples, so I will generalize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Community action<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have heard from fishworkers and their development partners in 10 Asian countries how communities have mobilized to:<\/span><\/p>\n