'Poverty eradication - greatest global challenge' - Part VI:

Accountability in fisheries management

Text of the final declaration issued by the world community at the conclusion of the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Summit recently in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Our Common Vision

172. We recognize the need for transparency and accountability in fisheries management by regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs). We recognize the efforts already made by those RFMOs that have undertaken independent performance reviews, and call on all RFMOs to regularly undertake such reviews and make the results publicly available. We encourage implementation of the recommendations of such reviews and recommend that the comprehensiveness of those reviews be strengthened over time, as necessary.

173. We reaffirm our Johannesburg Plan of Implementation commitment to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and overcapacity taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries, and we reiterate our commitment to conclude multilateral disciplines on fisheries subsidies which give effect to the WTO Doha Development Agenda and the Hong Kong Ministerial mandates to strengthen disciplines on subsidies in the fisheries sector, including through the prohibition of certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and over-fishing, recognising that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation, taking into account the importance of the sector to development priorities, poverty reduction, and livelihood and food security concerns.

We encourage states to further improve the transparency and reporting of existing fisheries subsidies programmes through the WTO. Given the state of fisheries resources and without prejudicing the WTO Doha and Hong Kong Ministerial mandates on fisheries subsidies nor the need to conclude these negotiations, we encourage states to eliminate subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and over-fishing, and to refrain from introducing new such subsidies or from extending or enhancing existing such subsidies.

174. We urge the identification and mainstreaming of strategies by 2014 that further assist developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing states, in developing their national capacity to conserve, sustainably manage and realize the benefits of sustainable fisheries, including through improved market access for fish products from developing countries.

175. We commit to observe the need to ensure access to fisheries, and the importance of access to markets, by subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fishers and women fish workers, as well as indigenous peoples and their communities particularly in developing countries, especially small island developing states.

176. We also recognize the significant economic, social and environmental contributions of coral reefs, in particular to islands and other coastal states, as well as the significant vulnerability of coral reefs and mangroves to impacts including from climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution. We support international cooperation with a view to conserving coral reef and mangrove ecosystems and realizing their social, economic and environmental benefits as well as facilitating technical collaboration and voluntary information sharing.

177. We reaffirm the importance of area based conservation measures, including marine protected areas consistent with International Law and based on best available scientific information as a tool for conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of its components. We note decision X/2 of the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, that by 2020, 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are to be conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.

Small island developing states (SIDS)

178. We reaffirm that small island developing states (SIDS) remain a special case for sustainable development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities, including their small size, remoteness, narrow resource and export base, and exposure to global environmental challenges and external economic shocks, including to a large range of impacts from climate change and potentially more frequent and intense natural disasters. We note with concern that the outcome of the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation (MSI+5) concluded that SIDS have made less progress than most other groupings, or even regressed, in economic terms, especially in terms of poverty reduction and debt sustainability.

Sea-level rise and other adverse impacts of climate change continue to pose a significant risk to SIDS and their efforts to achieve sustainable development and for many represent the gravest of threats to their survival and viability, including for some through the loss of territory. We also remain concerned that, while SIDS have progressed in the areas of gender, health, education and the environment, their overall progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals has been uneven.

179. We call for continued and enhanced efforts to assist SIDS in implementing the Barbados Programme of Action and Mauritius Strategy for Implementation. We also call for a strengthening of the United Nations System support to SIDS in keeping with the multiple ongoing and emerging challenges faced by SIDS in achieving sustainable development.

180. Building on the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation, we call for the convening of the Third International Conference on SIDS in 2014, recognizing the importance of coordinated, balanced and integrated actions to address the sustainable development challenges facing SIDS and we invite the General Assembly at its 67th Session to determine the modalities of the Conference.

Least developed countries

181. We agree to effectively implement the Istanbul Programme of Action and to fully integrate its priority areas into the framework for action, the broader implementation of which will contribute to the IPOA’s overarching goal of enabling half of LDCs to meet the criteria of graduation by 2020.

Landlocked least developed countries

182. We invite Member States, including development partners, organizations of the United Nations system and other relevant international, regional and sub-regional organizations, to speed up further the implementation of the specific actions in the five priorities agreed upon in the Almaty Programme of Action and those contained in the Declaration on the midterm review, in a better-coordinated manner, in particular for the construction, maintenance and improvement of their transport, storage and other transit-related facilities, including alternative routes, completion of missing links and improved communications and energy infrastructure, so as to support these countries' sustainable development.

Africa

Industrial pollution, a major contributor to global warming

Felling of trees, harmful to natural habitat

183. While we acknowledge that some progress has been made towards the fulfillment of international commitments related to Africa’s development needs, we emphasize that significant challenges remain in achieving sustainable development on the continent.

184. We call on the international community to enhance support and fulfill commitments to advance action in areas critical to Africa’s sustainable development and welcome the efforts by development partners to strengthen cooperation with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). We also welcome the progress made by African countries in deepening democracy, human rights, good governance and sound economic management, and encourage African countries to continue their efforts in this regard. We invite all of Africa’s development partners, in particular developed countries, to support African countries in strengthening human capacities and democratic institutions, consistent with their priorities and objectives with a view to furthering Africa’s development at all levels, including through facilitating the transfer of technology needed by African countries as mutually agreed. We recognize the need for African countries to make continued efforts to create enabling environments for inclusive growth in support of sustainable development and for the international community to make continued efforts to increase the flow of new and additional resources for financing for development from all sources, public and private, domestic and foreign, to support these development efforts by African countries and welcome the various important initiatives established between African countries and their development partners in this regard.

Regional efforts

185. We encourage coordinated regional actions to promote sustainable development. We recognize, in this regard, that important steps have been taken to promote sustainable development, in particular in the Arab region, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asia Pacific region, through relevant fora including within United Nations regional commissions. While noting that challenges remain in several areas, the international community welcomes these efforts, and the results already achieved, and calls for actions at all levels for their further development and implementation.

Disaster risk reduction

186. We reaffirm our commitment to the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters and call for States, the UN system, international financial institutions, sub-regional, regional and international organizations, and civil society to accelerate implementation of the framework and the achievement of its goals. We call for disaster risk reduction and building of resilience to disasters to be addressed with a renewed sense of urgency in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and, as appropriate, to be integrated into policies, plans, programmes, and budgets at all levels and considered within relevant future frameworks. We invite governments at all levels as well as relevant sub-regional, regional and international organizations to commit to adequate, timely and predictable resources for disaster risk reduction in order to enhance resilience of cities and communities to disasters, according to their own circumstances and capacities.

187. We recognize the importance of early warning systems as part of effective disaster risk reduction at all levels in order to reduce economic and social damages including the loss of human life, and in this regard encourage states to integrate such systems into their national disaster risk reduction strategies and plans. We encourage donors and the international community to enhance international cooperation in support of disaster risk reduction in developing countries as appropriate through technical assistance, technology transfer as mutually agreed, capacity building and training programmes. We further recognize the importance of comprehensive hazard and risk assessments, and knowledge and information sharing, including reliable geospatial information. We commit to undertake and strengthen in a timely manner risk assessment and disaster risk reduction instruments.

188. We stress the importance of stronger inter-linkages among disaster risk reduction, recovery and long-term development planning, and call for more coordinated and comprehensive strategies that integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation considerations into public and private investment, decision making and planning of humanitarian and development actions in order to reduce risk, increase resilience and provide a smoother transition between relief, recovery and development. In this regard, we recognize also the need to integrate a gender perspective into the design and implementation of all phases of disaster risk management.

189. We call for all relevant stakeholders, including governments, international, regional and sub-regional organizations, the private sector and civil society, to take appropriate and effective measures, taking into account the three dimensions of sustainable development, including through strengthening coordination and cooperation to reduce risk exposures for the protection of people, infrastructure and other national assets from the impact of disasters in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action and any post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

To be continued