TM18
Which knowledge do we want for conserving ocean biodiversity and securing small-scale fisheries?
Thu, 05 Jun, 12:45–13:45 (CEST)|Room 3
Thu, 12:45
Small-scale fisheries (SSF) play a key role in sustaining both marine resources and biodiversity and associated socioeconomic uses, and thereby contributing to the United Nations development targets and goals. This has been demonstrated in recent years through innovative science-based approaches including transdisciplinary and sustainability research. However, data-poor situations in the North and the South hinder evidence-based decisions for ocean governance and equitable management of marine resources. For instance, the effectiveness of coastal marine protected areas and ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECM’s) requires a knowledge base that is often lacking, even though these tools are a crucial part of local to international frameworks, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Similarly, fisheries management relies on the timely production and interpretation of data to respond to internal and external changes in dynamic social-ecological systems.
How, then, can the knowledge base, and in particular the research and systems to build the knowledge base, make a stronger contribution to SSF management and policy frameworks in practice? This question is addressed in the “Which knowledge do we want?” town hall meeting. The aim is to see how more participatory knowledge co-production and knowledge sharing can lead to better governance and greater sustainability of small-scale fisheries and coastal biodiversity – across scales (i.e., at the local, national, and international levels).
Using expertise from throughout the world, the town meeting will be build on the output of the Illuminating Hidden Harvest program (https://www.fao.org/voluntary-guidelines-small-scale-fisheries/ihh/en), the 4th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress held in South Africa in November 2022 (https://tbtiglobal.net/world-small-scale-fisheries-congress/), the Small-Scale Fisheries Summit held at FAO headquarters in July 2024 (https://ssfhub.org/ssf-summit-2024), and major international initiatives such as the Small-Scale Fisheries Stewardship Project (https://ssf-stewardship.net/), BRIDGES (https://www.bridges-wio.com/) and AABS (https://worldfishcenter.org/aabs) programs.
Target audience:
The town hall meeting will be relevant to fishing organizations, environmental non-government organizations (NGOs), policy makers, and international agencies, as well as researchers interested in a wide diversity of topics related to marine coastal biodiversity and fisheries (e.g., marine protected areas, spatial planning, local livelihoods, fishery value chain, governance, and knowledge systems) and those engaged in problem-solving approaches.
Expected outcomes:
With technical support from FAO, the meeting will provide evidence of the way forward and concrete, national- and international-level actions to bridge the scientific community with those actors, implementing organizations, and funding agencies that are part of and/or support SSF systems and value chains. We expect to produce tentative answers to a set of key questions that can lead to improved policy and practice: How can the ‘right’ forms of knowledge assist in balancing positive and negative interactions between SDG 14 (Life below water) and socially-relevant SDGs in SSF governance and policies? How can global and regional networks support knowledge co-production in marine ecosystems and fisheries? How can SSF and biodiversity knowledge be most effectively shared among stakeholder groups and inform decision-making? What knowledge, and what uses of that knowledge, would promote more equitable distribution of socioeconomic benefits and secure the livelihoods of vulnerable communities? How should data limitations in the global South be addressed in the long-term?