Indicate which actions have been carried out to implement this Resolution :
Capacity-building
Policy influencing/advocacy
Scientific/technical activities
Describe the results/achievements of the actions taken:
The Resolution calls for strengthening IUCN’s focus on sustainable inland fisheries as part of IUCN’s programmes on species, water and ecosystem management. Discussions are taking place on developing an inter-commissional Task Force to reconcile fisheries and conservation, as stipulated in IUCN 2020 Resolution 107. Key to include (freshwater) fisheries alongside marine fisheries in this process.
The Resolution requests the Commission on Ecosystem Management Fisheries Expert Group to address equally both inland and marine fisheries. Commission Members have reached out to the Fisheries Expert Group and encouraged greater focus on inland fisheries and collaboration with the Inland Fisheries Alliance (IFA) as it develops. The IFA is a collaborative group of individuals representing several different organisations. https://www.inlandfisheriesalliance.org/. CI and other partners in the Inland Fisheries Alliance have developed a set of Core Principles that provide a set of key elements that the IFA will promote to target audiences as it works to achieve its goal of effectively incorporating inland fisheries into global development and conservation agendas by 2030. https://www.inlandfisheriesalliance.org/core-principles.
The Resolution calls for the need to support more explicit inclusion of inland fisheries in the post-2020 biodiversity framework, especially through the post-2020 zero draft target 5 and through reference to inland fisheries in SDG Targets 14.4, and 14.6, or in 15.1 (sustainable use of freshwater ecosystems). Co-Chair of the SSC Freshwater Conservation Committee has worked with colleagues in promoting the inland fisheries index developed by FAO and the USGS as a complementary indicator for GBF draft Target 5. Commissioners have recommended the adoption of this indicator in all feedback to the Post 2020 consultation process through IUCN and through Conservation International. A brief summary of the index is given in (FAO, 2022). A more detailed description will be published later this year. This same indicator could be applied to the SDG’s for monitoring inland fisheries. This would allow countries to easily monitor inland fisheries in both the GBF and the SDGs, using the same process, hence reducing complexity in application of indicators.
Conservation International is looking to develop projects that are focused on ecosystem-based management of inland fisheries, and currently are operating a Darwin Initiative project on ‘Pairing community conservation areas with sustainable aquaculture in Lake Victoria'.
Scientific work of the WCPA Freshwater Specialist Group on promoting freshwater protection in the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework has linked to collaboration on an analysis of the ‘Success of Reserves for Freshwater Fisheries and Fish’. The initial results of this work were presented at the 2022 Joint Aquatic Sciences meeting in the US: Koning, A.A., Hogan, Z., Abell,R., Chandra, S., Harrison, I., Loury, E., Moberg, T. Sutter, R., Thieme, M. Assessing the global distribution and diversity of area-based protections for fish and fisheries.
A collaborative team published a paper highlighting the under-representation of inland fisheries in the SDGs and how this should be addressed (building on previous publications by this team): Elliott V.L., Lynch A.J., Phang S.C., Cooke S.J., Cowx I.G., Claussen J.E., Dalton J., Darwall W., Harrison I., Murchie K.J., Steel E.A. and Stokes G.L. (2022). A Future for the Inland Fish and Fisheries Hidden Within the Sustainable Development Goals. Frontiers in Environmental Science 10:756045. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.756045
What challenges/obstacles have been encountered in the implementation of this Resolution and how were they overcome :
Difficulty in getting sufficient policy attention paid to inland fisheries, and the gathering of reliable data on these fisheries.
However, Conservation International is working with a very strong group of partners, including the InFish network (https://infish.org/), to address these challenges.
Briefly describe what future actions are needed for the implementation of this Resolution:
To continue to provide input of inland fisheries to the inter-commissional Task Force to reconcile fisheries and conservation, as stipulated in IUCN 2020 Resolution 107
To continue discussions with IUCN’s Fisheries Expert Group, on adequate representation of inland fisheries in their work.
To continue working for better representation of inland fisheries in the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the SDGs.
To continue developing outputs from the Inland Fisheries Alliance in collaboration with InFish.
More extensive analyses of the role of freshwater reserves in support of inland fisheries.
Are these actions planned for yet:
