In preparation for CBD COP15 and the final negotiating session for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, EBCD, the IUCN Fisheries Expert Group, InFish and Inland Fisheries Alliance have developed a technical brief on Target 5 for the adoption of an indicator to monitor the threats to inland fisheries.
Achieving effective conservation and sustainable development of inland aquatic ecosystems is dependent on inland fisheries, but they are frequently absent from associated policy because of the lack of a globally applicable method for monitoring their status (see section 4). To address this problem, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have developed an indicator for assessing threats to inland fisheries. Providing a means to assess the threats to inland fisheries will help conservation and management of this critical source of nutrition and livelihoods, especially for poverty and food security issues, considering climate change, land use and human development impacts on fisheries.
This brief supports the proposed adoption of this indicator and encourages Parties to consider adopting this at the higher level of a component indicator, because it is designed to measure a specific component of the target, i.e., the sustainability of the inland fishery, and changes in that sustainability as a product of multiple stresses. This indicator also meets the requirement that a component indicator must be able to be applied at national, regional, and global levels. At a minimum, it can be adopted as a complementary indicator.
The Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) provides a critical opportunity to insert this indicator into global policies for conservation and sustainable development.
