Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

depleted or recovering from depletion and a further 50 per cent to be fully exploited (FAO, 2010). It has been estimated that the world’s fishing fleets are double the size they should be and the potential economic gain from reducing fishing capacity to a sustainable, economically optimal level and restoring over-exploited and depleted fish stocks is of the order of US$50 billion per annum (World Bank & FAO, 2009). Considering solely the physical availability of fish in food supplies, Sirinivasan, et al., (2010) have estimated that the undernourishment of about 20 million people could have been averted without overfishing. Overfishing also curbs the potential of small- scale fisheries to add to income and economic growth in coastal areas of developing countries thereby worsening poverty (FAO, 2005; Béné, et al., 2007). Moreover, overcapacity and over- exploitation threaten biodiversity (Pereira, et al., 2010), particularly of larger, longer-lived marine organisms that aremore vulnerable to depletion (Norse, et al., 2012), and structurally complex habitats such as coral reefs, which are easily damaged by indiscriminate fishing methods. While the overcapacity of the large industrial fishing fleets has been well documented (World Bank & FAO, 2009), they are not the only sources of overexploitation. If connected to large enough markets, small-scale fisheries can also deplete high value marine resources (Cinner & McClanahan, 2006). Weak governance, the high dependence of coastal communities on fishery resources and the lack of alternative livelihood options, lead small-scale fisheries to overexploit inshore resources in many parts of the world (Pomeroy, 2011). Rights to access and use of fisheries resources are often poorly defined, ineffectively enforced, or unfairly distributed. The variability and diversity of small-scale fisheries and their close links with communities make them unsuited to traditional top-down command and control resource management approaches. Moreover, poverty in fishery dependent communities is not necessarily linked directly to resource overexploitation, but rather reflects the lack of wider institutional, political and economic advantages in rural (and in some cases urban) poverty (Béné, 2003; Béné, et al., 2007). Marginalization and violation of the rights of fish workers and fishing-dependent people sometimes results in a lack of access to public services, including health and education, a lack of participation and representation in the policy making process and, in many cases, a lack of access to efficient markets or trade. There is hence a need to combine resource

management with addressing social and economic development (ICSF, 2007; FAO, 2009b; Allison, et al. , 2011). Additional threats to small-scale fisheries include adverse impacts from other sectors, such as agricultural run-off, waste discharge and eutrophication which can negatively impact the ecosystems that communities rely upon. Increasingly, small-scale fisheries also suffer from the effects of climate change, the impact of which on ocean life, productivity, reproduction and food toxicity remains un-assessed (Badjeck, et al ., 2010; Sumaila, et al ., 2011). Marginalized communities are also often quite vulnerable to natural disasters, environmental stress and external socio-economic and biological shocks. Moreover, small-scale fisheries must also compete for access to land and water rights with other sectors, including tourism, construction, aquaculture and urban development, among others. Scarcity of data on the economic and social importance of small-scale fisheries exacerbates the often overall marginalized position of the sector (FAO, 2011b). In view of this precarious situation in many small-scale fisheries, investments in policy and governance reform are needed. Recent developments present opportunities in this respect, including the recognition of the important economic and social roles of small- scale fisheries by the international community in forums such as the United Nations Open- ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (United Nations, 2011) and FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) that recently mandated the development of international guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries (FAO, 2011). Moreover, recent developments in the governance arena in many parts of theworld include decentralization of resource management responsibilities, the introduction of co-management arrangements (including recognition of traditional authorities, management processes and use rights) and the need for integrated and holistic approaches such the ecosystem system approach to fisheries (EAF). Discussions have also evolved to include a human rights perspective and the right to secure and just livelihoods, including social and economic rights, experiences of combining resource governance with social development are becoming available and the need for holistic and integrated approaches is generally accepted (FAO, 2011b). While governance reform and distributive justice are key ‘green economy ‘issues from a sectoral perspective, reducing energy use and ‘carbon footprint’infisherieshas synergieswith theseother

in a Blue World

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