Small is bountiful – World Oceans Day 2020

Language

Most session will be held in English with one session to be held in Spanish and Portuguese.
The option of translating other sessions into Spanish is currently being explored; exact details will be soon shared on the event page.

June 1 - Noon (UTC)
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The COVID-19 pandemic represents a health crisis and an emerging socioeconomic disaster. In small-scale fisheries, impacts have been wide-ranging, on markets and prices, as well as on fishing activities, which have been affected by physical distancing and other restrictions and disruptions in transport. We are also seeing remarkable innovation in response to this crisis, including use of technology to reach new markets, new ways to preserve products until markets recover, and moving towards supplementary livelihoods. These opportunities are not feasible to all small-scale fisheries or across gender. Innovation thus will have to take into consideration inclusiveness, equity and social justice as the main principles. The session will provide overview of the ways in which small-scale fisheries around the world are being impacted. It will further explore the social, environmental, political, and technological innovations and adaptations that small-scale fishers and fish workers in low- and high-income countries are using to cope and recover from the ongoing crisis. Finally, it will discuss opportunities and risks for small-scale fisheries in a post-Covid world.

June 2 - Noon (UTC)
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development affirms that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “seek to realize the human rights of all.” The Agenda and human rights are tied together in a mutually-reinforcing way, with about 92 % of the 169 SDG targets linked to international human rights instruments. The cross-cutting principle of “leaving no one behind” is indeed one of the most transformative elements of the 2030 Agenda. It reflects the human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination, and human rights can help identify groups of people in the risk of being left behind. Arguing from human rights perspective, the webinar will first illustrate how human rights data can help identify challenges and opportunities when states implement SDG target 14.b on access of small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets, including the commitment by states to leave no one behind. Next, the webinar will discuss challenges and opportunities in implementing SDG target 14.b with examples from the North and the South.

June 3 - Noon (UTC)
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This session takes us across seas and sectors, illustrating that globally, small-scale fisheries (SSF) exemplify the focus of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) aim to “leave no one behind”. Experts will speak on the key opportunities to work with SSF to progress multiple SDGs amidst three imminent transformations: food system transformation, Blue Economy and climate change. These speakers will also provide compelling arguments on known risks that sustainable and equitable development will face if the rights, values and flexibility of SSF are eroded. First, we will hear about how SSF rights and livelihoods are instrumental in achieving other SDGs, but also how SSF sustainability is dependent on other SDGs being achieved. Second, we will examine the role, risks and opportunities for small holders (fisheries and agriculture) in addressing SDG2 on food and nutrition security. Third, we will examine SDG5 on gender equality within SSF, and a presentation on SDG 13 with respect to SSF preparedness for climate change.

June 4 - Noon (UTC)
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The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) were adopted in 2014 by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI). They are based on internationally accepted human rights standards and are to be interpreted and implemented in accordance with those standards and by using a human rights-based approach (HRBA). This approach seeks to ensure the participation of small-scale fishing communities in non-discriminatory, transparent and accountable decision-making processes by putting particular emphasis on the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups and on gender equality. While the HRBA is a recognised practice, there is still a need to further explore how applying human rights standards can advance the implementation of the SSF Guidelines. Accordingly, this webinar will discuss what the HRBA means in the context of small-scale fisheries. Good practices will be showcased and concrete examples presented by those directly involved and driving change.

June 5 - Noon (UTC)
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For small-scale fisheries, the “blue economy” and the “blue growth” is a sink or swim. Will their rights and interests be secured? Will their potentials be enhanced? Or will they experience further marginalization? The Blue Justice concept reflects the need for a critical examination of how small-scale fisheries are coping in the blue economy, whether they achieve justice relative to other ocean users, including industrial fisheries and coastal/marine tourism, aquaculture or energy production. It also aims to explore strategies, opportunities and synergies, which may make small-scale fisheries more resilient and robust. Blue Justice has at its core a set of governance principles that recognizes the need for small-scale fisheries to have equity, access, participation and rights in order for the blue economy to be of benefit to them. The session invites reflections on what these principles are or should be, based on experiences of small-scale fisheries in the past and in the new blue economy.

June 8 events
PANEL DISCUSSIONS

11:30 PM (UTC)
(starts on June 7; check your local time)

2:00 AM (UTC)
(check your local time)

4:30 AM (UTC)
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7:00 AM (UTC)
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9:30 AM (UTC)
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Noon (UTC)
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2:30 PM (UTC)
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5:00 PM (UTC)
(check your local time)

7:30 PM (UTC)
(check your local time)

10:00 PM (UTC)
(check your local time;
in Spanish & Portuguese)

SSF Art Festival
June 8

Too Big To Ignore (TBTI)
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF)
Blue Ventures
COBI
Danish Institute for Human Rights
Future of Fish
Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI)
Linha d’Agua Foundation
Local Catch
NAMA
Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Program
Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI)  - Module I
PLAAS, University of Western Cape
University of Aveiro
WorldFish

Oak Foundation
International Ocean Institute (IOI) Canada
The Fisheries Law Centre
Environmental Defense Fund
The Irish Sea Centre
Charles Darwin Foundation
ICCA
International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF)
IPC Fisheries Working Group/SSF-GSF Advisory Group
RARE