FAO'S fisheries programme and the plan of implementation of the world summit on sustainable development

Abstract

Fisheries have evolved and expanded rapidly over the past 50 years with fishers discovering and colonizing the last of the worlds oceans and seas. Confronted now with an almost universal situation of fleet overcapacity, overfishing, high levels of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, low and declining catch rates, environmental impacts, poor economic returns, worsening public perceptions in the face of a growing world population and a mounting demand for food,3 the fishery sector is searching for long-term sustainable solutions (Garcia and Newton, 1997). To improve the state of marine capture fisheries and concurrently increase fish production, complementary actions on two fronts are required. This action requires the reduction of harvesting rates on wild resources through lower levels of fishing effort and an increase in low-impact aquaculture production. Moreover, supplementary measures are also needed to enhance and facilitate the recovery of marine fisheries. These measures should, as a minimum, include the protection of spawning and juvenile concentrations and critical habitats,4 the development of alternative employment opportunities in coastal areas including in aquaculture, the reduction and suppression of fisheries subsidies, the eradication of IUU fishing, the strengthening of regional fishery bodies and the enhancement of fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS). In this chapter we discuss the relation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO Code of Conduct) to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). We examine overlaps and synergies between the aims and strategies of the two instruments. Particularly, we focus on the role of the FAO in the implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct and the FAO international plans of action, and how this involvement of the FAO may help achieve the aims and timeframes set by the WSSD plan of implementation. As such, the chapter takes a global perspective on the political and institutional developments in international fisheries. The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) underpins fisheries management both in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and on the high seas. The LOSC has been supplemented and extended by other robust international fisheries instruments in the post-United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) period. These instruments have been adopted in a partially redundant process of international summits and meetings. The cross-cutting nature of the outcomes of some of these processes embody commitments that states are compelled politically to make but which they have difficulty implementing in practice because their national fishery administrations face human and institutional capacity constraints. This situation has created a growing and unprecedented burden for many countries, especially for developing countries.5 The 1995 FAO Code of Conduct6 overarches activities in the fisheries sector in a comprehensive and integrated manner. The FAO Code of Conduct assembles, in a single instrument, the commitments and requirements of all major fishery instruments of relevance to fisheries. As a flagship instrument, FAO is committed to foster its full and effective implementation. The 2002 Johannesburg Political Declaration on Sustainable Development and Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD plan of implementation) seeks to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable development (United Nations, 2003). It is broadly consistent with FAOs Strategic Framework for 2000-2015 (FAO Strategic Framework) (FAO, 1999a). Whereas FAO focuses primarily on hunger elimination, both the WSSD plan of implementation and the FAO Strategic Framework aim at alleviating and eliminating poverty, which the international community consider to be a major challenge facing humanity as it attempts to move towards sustainable development. Furthermore, both the WSSD plan of implementation and the FAO Strategic Framework recognize that integrated land and water resource management, and the sustainable use of fisheries resources can contribute substantially to poverty reduction and rural livelihoods. FAOs main policy thrusts involve the development of sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries while addressing the linkages between poverty, hunger and environmental degradation. The 1996 and 2002 FAO World Food Summits and the 2000 UN Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2000) contemplate reducing hunger among the worlds population by half by 2015. While sustainable agriculture is seen as the main instrument for achieving this objective, fisheries have a fundamental role to play.