A High-Level event held during the Committee of Fisheries (COFI) at FAO’s headquarters in Rome on July 8th celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). These guidelines highlight the vital contributions of small-scale fishers and fish workers to food security, nutrition, and livelihoods, particularly in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

The 36th Committee on Fisheries (COFI) brought together country representatives, experts, observers and sector partners for a week of discussions, from July 8-12. The committee focused on the critical role of fisheries and aquaculture in tackling food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty, emphasizing their ability to alleviate hunger, drive sustainable growth, and reverse environmental degradation. Although small-scale fisheries didn’t have a dedicated agenda item, countries from all regions highlighted their importance throughout the week on their statements. On COFI’s final report, countries commended the implementation of the SSF Guidelines, and encouraged Members to continue implementing them.

The head of the Right to Food Team, Juan Echanove, participated in one of the side events discussing key topics to promote the right to food in small-scale fisheries, which is fundamental to improving their access to natural resources, enhancing their living conditions, and ensuring the sustainability of fisheries.

On COFI’s final report, countries “recognized the importance of the SSF Summit as a platform for small-scale fisheries actors to exchange views and express needs to secure sustainable small-scale fisheries; and continued to encourage the Summit be held every two years prior to COFI”.

Preparing for COFI

Three days prior to COFI, over 300 fishers, fish workers, partners, NGO’s, CSO’s and country representatives convened in FAO headquarters to participate in the second Small-Scale Fisheries Summit (SSF Summit 2024). The SSF Summit serve as a global platform for small-scale fisheries movements to engage with governments and other small-scale fisheries advocates in an accessible and non-technical forum to collaboratively address governance and development challenges in small-scale fisheries while proposing and sharing solutions to foster and strengthen the implementation of the SSF Guidelines.

Celebrating two important instruments

Over the past decade, the SSF Guidelines have become the most significant international instrument entirely dedicated to small-scale fisheries, empowering collective action to ensure that SSF are mainstreamed into relevant policies, strategies, and actions at local, national, and regional levels.

The Right to Food Guidelines (RtF Guidelines), adopted a decade earlier, provide practical guidance to states for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food and paved the way for the development of other international guidelines on specific issues.

A common objective of both instruments is to ensure the progressive realization of the right to food for all, while contributing to equitable and sustainable development and poverty alleviation. They advocate for using a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to food security and nutrition, which requires states to fulfill their obligations to ensure that safe, nutritionally adequate, and culturally acceptable food is available, and to promote the empowerment and non-discriminatory participation of communities in decision-making processes, emphasizing the benefit of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

The SSF Guidelines and the RtF Guidelines offer significant opportunities for synergistic implementation. Both instruments recommend integrating their principles into national legal and policy frameworks, following an assessment of existing national legislation, policies, and administrative measures. Special attention should be given to measures concerning the right to food for small-scale fishers, fish workers, and their communities. The findings from these assessments can guide the implementation process and identify critical legal and policy gaps that hinder the realization of the right to adequate food for stakeholders in small-scale fisheries.

2024 is a year of reflection. It is an opportunity to evaluate what has been accomplished and what remains to be done to achieve greater sustainability in the small-scale fisheries subsector and the full realization of the right to food. The food, economic, and climate crises are only a few of the challenges we will face in the coming years.