At the occasion of the 20th session of the FAO subcommittee on trade, more than 19 CSOs and small-scale fisheries organisations, the signatories ask that FAO and its members adopt “blue food systems” that align with the ecosystem-based approach, the principles of social equity and animal welfare, and that they stop supporting the mass production of seafood through industrial feedlot aquaculture without consideration for the environment or local communities.

In this position paper, CFFA contributes to the Commission open consultation on an EU strategy for fisheries external action. In it, CFFA calls for a strategy that looks into policy coherence for development, including a focus on food security, the importance of participation of stakeholders and of including human rights safeguards. In the second part of the position, CFFA looks at the coherence in the resources put forward to fund this external strategy, as essential for effective action. 

FAO and its members should ensure that trade rules are fair, that investments go into infrastructure and services that communities themselves have identified, that women’s and youth’s contributions are fully valued, and that binding social and environmental protections underpin every initiative.

Encouraging the reform and enlargement of the Inshore Exclusive Zone (IEZ) in Liberia would reinforce the EU leadership on responsible fisheries governance and build on recent regional trends, such as the IEZ expansion in Ghana and the Senegalese government commitment to enlarge the area reserved to artisanal fishers.

Eva Martinez, an Ecuadorian lawyer expert in human rights and gender and working at the Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES), discusses with Andre Standing the complaint against the Galapagos debt-swap the CDES filed along with other civil society organisations. The complaint raised concerns about the lack of transparency, participation and effective accountability mechanisms as well as the loss of sovereignty of Ecuador to manage its natural resources.

In this short publication, prepared by Andre Standing, we contest the facts gathered in the preparatory note to the UN Ocean Conference panel focusing on unlocking finance for conservation of the oceans. We look at the false narrative of the funding gap and underscore the key criticisms facing these innovative finance tools, including debt-for-ocean swaps.