News & updates

Trade Issues and Sustainability of Fisheries Resources

Authors

Francisco J. Herrera-Teran
Jaques Berney, IWMC Executive Vice President
Eugène Lapointe, IWMC President

Abstract

The document’s main focus is trade and fisheries resources as exhaustible natural resources. It contains reviews of recent negotiations at the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of WildFauna and Flora (CITES) in which a divergence of views has emerged on the respective roles of the different bodies and the legal rights and obligations of the States with respect to various fisheries specific international agreements.

The paper also advocates supporting DevelopingCountries and Small Island nations with assistance on marine resources conservation before they implement free trade or no trade policies. This would also cover adverse impacts to rural communities in Developing Countries and Small Island nations from free trade (resource depletion) or no trade. It assesses how to avoid social impacts on such communities, which traditionally rely on natural resources of the surrounding areas.

With respect to CITES, the paper also includes some information on practical implementation and enforcement issues in the case of listing commercially exploited marine species in Appendix II.

View PDF in English.

View PDF in French.

View PDF in Spanish.

Related content

Fisheries overview

CITES AND THE MANAGEMENT OF FISHERIES

From the very beginnings of man kind, the world’s oceans and waterways have provided essential sustenance that has supported the development of life. The consumption

Fisheries overview

Reflections on the UN’s World Oceans Day

Today (June 8, 2021) is United Nations World Oceans Day. This year’s official theme ‘The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods’ is most welcome. IWMC campaigns everyday of

IWMC Feature

Conservation Influencers

Conservation Influencers is a searchable directory of the animal activist, environmental and ecological lobby. It examines the history, mission, methodology and reputation of NGOs to assess their impact on the global conservation cause.

Franz Weber Foundation

From 1990 until 2015, Franz Weber Foundation (FFW) managed the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park in Togo, which was, according to an in-depth investigation by Duke University, ‘established by forcing the local communities off their land and without taking into consideration their point of view’. That same study cited convincing evidence from reports published in 1990, confirming that competition for land use was already ‘creating conflict between the local communities and park managers’. In 2015 Togo refused to renew FFW’s contract because, the report says, ‘local communities were still excluded from the management of the natural resources of their land’ and FFW had ‘failed to fulfil its contract’. Franz Weber Foundation plays a major role within CITES because it funds and manages from Switzerland the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), which represents 32 African range states, some of which have barely any elephants and others none at all. Contrary to the wishes of the range states in Southern Africa, which manage most of the world’s wild elephant populations, the AEC at CITES’ CoPs repeatedly tables proposals to put all of the world’s elephants in appendix I. And the AEC uses its voting power to keep in place prohibitions on ivory sales and all other trade in elephant-related derivatives, including skins and hair, which Southern African nations wish to legalise.

Read more...