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FORUM STATEMENT: Fisheries, Fishers Rights and Climate Change

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Copenhagen, December 11th 2009. Southeast Asia Fish for Justice (SEAFish) network, Tambuyog Development Center (Philippines), Levende-hav (Denmark), KIARA-Fisheries Justice Coalition (Indonesia), Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (Vietnam) have concluded the Fisheries, Fishers Rights and Climate Change forum and presents this statement in relation to UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations. It represents the views and solutions from small-scale fishers in the Southeast Asian region and Denmark.

We reiterate the demand that the developed countries led by the United States, EU, Japan, that have been mostly responsible for carbon and greenhouse gases emission should bear a corresponding historical responsibility for climate change in accordance with Article 3.1 of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, and depletion of fish stock in Southeast Asia.

Developed countries should bear the cost of funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and they should not be passed on as loans to be paid by the developing countries.

We do not accept market-oriented “technofix” solutions to climate change problems such as carbon trading and offsets that pass on the burden of addressing climate change to the developing countries.

We assert the following basic principles to guide the implementation of adaptation measures to climate change in coastal areas:

Respect for traditional and customary rights of fisherfolk and coastal communities to their fishing grounds.
Recognition of the rights of fisherfolk and coastal communities to control and manage their fishing grounds.
Recognition and taking into account of human-induced activities such as overfishing and ecologically harmful investments in coastal and marine areas that result in resource degradation and worsen the impacts of climate change in fisherfolk and coastal communities, as well as endangering their food security and physical security.
Participation of the fisherfolk in building coastal community resilience to climate change and the adoption of local knowledge and capacities in efforts and measures toward this end.
Regulation of fisheries trade and enhancement of domestic markets toward food security and building community resilience.

Contact Persons in Denmark

Dinna Umengan (Tambuyog, Philippines) +4552677740
Abdul Halim (KIARA, Indonesia) +4550597824
Knud Andersen (Living Sea, Denmark) +4520487421

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