{"id":99702,"date":"2022-12-22T16:12:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T10:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=samudra&p=99702"},"modified":"2022-12-22T16:13:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T10:43:26","slug":"from-blue-fear-to-blue-trust","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/from-blue-fear-to-blue-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"From Blue Fear to Blue Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Representatives of small-scale fishing communities \u2013 the most numerous ocean users \u2013launch a Call to Action at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This article is by Brian O\u2019Riordan<\/strong> <\/em>(deputy@lifeplatform.eu), executive secretary of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) platform<\/p>\n

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The Second United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2022), hosted by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, brought together 6,000 participants in Lisbon from June 27 to July 1. Its ambition is set out in the \u2018Lisbon Declaration on Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility\u2019.<\/p>\n

Its focus was to take stock of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14): Life Below Water. It includes 10 targets. Launched in 2015 to be achieved by 2030, the 17 SDGs are interlinked global goals designed to be a \u201cblueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all\u201d.<\/p>\n

Small-scale fishers (SSF) and coastal communities are the most numerous users of the ocean, even though they are often the most neglected. SSF activities provide a vital source of food, livelihood, socioeconomic and cultural benefits locally and equitably to millions of people around the world, more so in the global South.<\/p>\n

Their close relationships with the seas and coasts over the centuries have given them a rich reserve of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Through their daily activities at sea and on the coast, small-scale fishers garner insights into the seas, about the seasonal changes in fishery and other marine resources, and weather patterns and associated phenomena. This experiential knowledge enhances their skills as seafarers, as food producers and as guardians of the seas. This represents a massively underutilized but potentially game-changing knowledge base.<\/p>\n

Life above and below water<\/strong><\/p>\n

Together, the TEK and experiential knowledge of SSF form part of a rich biocultural diversity, contributing to diverse cultural landscapes and seascapes. Defending and promoting biocultural diversity is key to the sustainable use of the natural resources in the oceans, seas and coastal areas.<\/p>\n

It is highly appropriate that SSF should have a special place in the targets set for SDG 14. Of particular importance is target SDG 14b that aims to provide access to marine resources and markets for SSF.<\/p>\n

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Through their daily activities at sea and on the coast, small-scale fishers garner insights into the seas, about the seasonal changes in fishery and other marine resources, and weather patterns and associated phenomena<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Conserving life under the water and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources are vital to sustaining human life and well-being above the water. In the main, UNOC 2022 in Lisbon brought together two main protagonists: those clamouring for reforms in ocean governance to \u2018Save Our Ocean\u2019 (that is, save human life on our planet), and those clamouring for reforms to open up the \u2018Blue Economy\u2019 and pave the way for giant steps in investment, industrial development and wealth creation, notably in energy generation, mineral and living resource extraction, food production, bioprospecting and shipping.<\/p>\n

Call to action<\/strong><\/p>\n

The complexity of multi-stakeholder, multi-pathway international ocean governance makes navigating the decision-making processes difficult, even for the most adept policy wonk. Add to this the cost of international travel, translation of policy documents into local languages, and bringing information in a digestible form to remote, marginalized fishing communities, and it is no wonder that all too often, SSF are absent from the decision-making process.<\/p>\n

Moreover, others, who are better connected and better resourced, but who are remote from the daily realities of SSF, albeit with the best of intentions. These interlocuters invariably do more harm than good by not consulting SSF and misrepresenting their interests, leaving them more invisible and disempowered.<\/p>\n

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Youth and Innovation Forum at the UNOC 2022. The conference brought together two main protagonists: those clamouring for reforms in ocean governance to \u2018Save Our Ocean\u2019, and those clamouring for reforms to open up the \u2018Blue Economy\u2019. Photo Credit: United Nations Regional Information Centre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hence for the Lisbon UNOC 2022, SSF wanted to be there in person. The clarion calls summarized their mood towards such interlocutors: \u201cTalk with us, not for us!\u201d and \u201cThere is nothing about us without us!\u201d If enabled to participate by such interlocuters, SSF are very well able to express their own demands, hopes and fears.<\/p>\n

This is how a group of around 20 small-scale fishing representatives from six continents found themselves among the 6,000 official delegates registered for the UNOC 2022. With support and coordination from a network of regional civil society organizations (CSOs), these representatives were able to make an early start on their road to Lisbon.<\/p>\n

Representing themselves<\/strong><\/p>\n

The organizations engaged in this process included the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network from the Pacific, Kesatuan Nelayan Tradisional Indonesia (KNTI) from Indonesia, the Federation of Indian Ocean Artisanal Fishers (FPAOI), the African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fishers (CAOPA), and a Mesoamerican network bringing together indigenous communities from Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Mexico.<\/p>\n

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… a group of around 20 small-scale fishing representatives from six continents found themselves among the 6,000 official delegates registered for the UNOC 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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They were supported in this endeavour by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA), CoopeSoliDar R.L., and Blue Ventures. Joining their voices to the Call for Action were other SSF groups from Europe, Africa and Latin America.<\/p>\n

The initial work involved meeting and sharing experiences of their daily lives, their working conditions, their hopes and fears. This was made possible by specialists in communications, interpretation, facilitation and coordination, working alongside these frontline workers to enable them to express themselves clearly and be understood. Step by step, they began to build an alliance, based on empathy, trust, and mutual respect, and to understand the boundaries of their common cause.<\/p>\n

This is expressed in their Call to Action, demanding governments provide secure and preferential access to healthy oceans and ecosystems for small-scale fishers; to develop science-based, transparent, inclusive and participative fisheries management; to address threats posed by pollution and competition from Blue Economy industries; to invest in long-term resource management, ecosystem restoration and innovations, building on local initiatives of men and women from fishing communities; and to develop national strategic plans to implement five key areas of action by 2030, with adequate funding and guided by the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines) and other relevant regional policies.<\/p>\n

They call to five key areas:<\/strong><\/p>\n