The Report on Assessing Progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 6 on Sustainable Fisheries (available here), developed by the IUCN Fisheries Expert Group (FEG), coordinated by EBCD, has been released by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity as part of its Technical Series.
The Report discusses key elements and approaches for realistic and coherent reporting on the elements of Target 6: (6A) Sustainably Harvested Species, (6B) Depleted Target and Non-Target Species, (6C) Threatened Species and Vulnerable Ecosystems, (6D) Safe Ecological Limits. The connection between Aichi Target 6 and the Sustainable Development Goals (particularly SDG 14) is also briefly described. The report focuses on three aspects of sustainable fisheries: (1) the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; (ii) the implementation of the ecosystem approach; and (3) the performance of regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs).
Although its focus is on assessing and reporting elements under Aichi Biodiversity Target 6 (2011-2020), the Report represents an important knowledge-base for the development of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Targets. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, stated: “This report provides extremely valuable insights in the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, as well as its accompanying monitoring and reporting framework. Furthermore, it underpins the critical need for the active engagement of the fisheries community not only in setting global goals/targets for biodiversity, but also in implementing action on the ground, as well as monitoring and reporting on the state of fisheries and efforts to achieve sustainable fisheries.”
The Report was funded by the CBD Secretariat, with the financial support of the Government of Canada, and was developed by the IUCN Fisheries Expert Group (mainly by Serge Garcia and Jake Rice with contributions from other FEG Members), coordinated by EBCD.
