International Waters learning Exchange & Resource Network

Experience Notes



CFI Global Exchange Visit: Fostering experience and knowledge sharing on good practices at country, regional and global levels for more holistic processes and integrated approaches

The Coastal Fisheries Initiatives Global Partnership (GEF ID: 9128)

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

The Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), strives to contribute to global knowledge sharing and awareness raising on sustainable coastal fisheries management, while working to meet the knowledge sharing and communication requirements of each of the partners involved in the Initiative and in the partnership as a whole. To this end, CFI developed a communication and knowledge management strategy and roadmap aiming to foster the broad sharing of information and knowledge among its Child Projects, partners and coastal fisheries stakeholders. As part of this strategy, an experience capitalization process is being conducted with a view to documenting and disseminating good practices on artisanal coastal fisheries in the three geographies and the six countries covered by the Initiative. This process includes the organization of knowledge sharing activities and exchange visits at the national, regional and global levels. Consequently, a Global Exchange Visit was organized in Tumbes, Peru, from 29 November to 2 December 2022, involving the five CFI Child Projects, implementing agencies, government representatives and fishing communities from the six countries covered by the Initiative. A total of 61 participants took part in this in-person event and shared experiences, lessons learned, good practices and success stories on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), empowering women in fisheries value chains, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), private sector engagement and sustainable mangrove management, which are key thematic areas to coastal fisheries. 

Coastal fisheries are a crucial provider of livelihoods, food security and nutrition, especially in developing countries. According to FAO statistics, small-scale fisheries account for 40 percent of global catches and artisanal fishers and fish workers make up 90 percent of people involved in fisheries value chains around the world. Almost 500 million people depend, at least in part, on small-scale fisheries for their jobs and livelihoods, according to FAO.

However, evidence has shown serious damage is being caused to the habitats, ecological functions, and biodiversity of these fisheries. The root causes are overfishing, the use of destructive harvesting practices and gear, post-capture waste due to poor processing and marketing techniques, a lack of social protection for fishers and fish workers, pollution, and climate change. 

To address these issues, the CFI has worked to demonstrate that holistic, ecosystem-based management and participatory governance of resources can deliver sustainable environmental, social and economic benefits. Because partners often work independently from one another, CFI understands the great need to improve collaboration, to identify and disseminate agreed good practices and to analyze, coordinate and effectively steer various initiatives towards a similar outcome. Consequently, the CFI plays an important role in catalyzing synergies and fostering knowledge sharing on key thematics between its partners and countries and beyond. 

Meta data
Regions Western Africa , Americas , South-Eastern Asia
Scope Global
Ecosystem Coastal
Categories Sustainable Water Management,Biodiversity,Integrated Coastal Management,Marine Protected Areas,Marine Spatial Planning

A key part of the rationale behind the development of the CFI was to create a mechanism that would facilitate the exchange of global experience and learning about the challenges faced by coastal fisheries and approaches to addressing those challenges. The management and capitalization of knowledge and learning within the Initiative is one of the main objectives of the CFI. During the design of the Initiative, the partners and governments agreed on the importance of creating a mechanism to enable fisheries stakeholders from various parts of the world to interact, learn from each other’s experience and seek out common issues and approaches.

The CFI Global Partnership Project (CFI-GPP), which is responsible for coordination, knowledge management and communication, has planned and implemented a series of global events where CFI partners have been able to share their views, knowledge and lessons learned. These partners include women and men from fishing communities (seafood processors and fishmongers, fishers and fisheries entrepreneurs), government officials from the six CFI beneficiary countries (Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru, Senegal), NGOs, academia, scientific institutions, and fisheries experts. The COVID-19 pandemic limited the extent to which these events were possible in person, but virtual meetings, webinars (CFI Talks) and discussions have become a regular feature of the CFI and are helping to draw participants, partners, and stakeholders into a growing global community of practice.

With the easing of travel restrictions in mid-2022, the CFI-GPP organized a Global Exchange Visit to Tumbes, Peru, from 29 November to 2 December 2022 bringing together not just the implementing agencies from the six beneficiary countries but also the national authorities and fishing community members who have been involved in CFI activities in the field.

Peru was selected as a destination because CFI Latin America, which started its operations in 2017 before any of the other CFI Child Projects, was closing in October 2022 and the visit would therefore represent a final opportunity to engage with the partners and stakeholders from Ecuador and Peru. An earlier field trip by CFI-GPP consultants to the two countries in August 2022 helped to consolidate learning from the project and ensure that contact and communications would continue beyond the closure of CFI Latin America. During this trip, appropriate venues and field sites for the exchange visit were identified in the town of Tumbes in northern Peru.

The Global Exchange Visit was facilitated through a UN-to-UN agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Peru. Its main objective was to foster experience and knowledge sharing on CFI good practices at country, regional and global levels in pursuit of the Initiative’s objective of developing more holistic processes and integrated approaches through South/South learning exchange and ensuring sustainable coastal fisheries management within the six CFI beneficiary countries and its three regions.  More specifically, the visit intended to: i) share and discuss experiences, success stories and lessons learned on four thematic areas: the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), empowering women in fisheries value chains, private sector engagement, and sustainable mangrove management; ii) capture new information and identify synergies and cross-collaboration  opportunities between countries and partners; and iii) identify and design communication and knowledge management exit strategies after the end of CFI Latin America and the other CFI Child Projects.

The methodology consisted of four days of discussion and field visits to meet with fishing communities in the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary, which was one of the CFI Latin America pilot sites and which is co-managed by the Northeast Peru Mangroves Consortium of fisher and fish worker organizations. Activities included: a) technical sessions on mangrove co-management with members of the Consortium, local fisheries authorities, and local/regional representatives of the ministries in charge of the environment and fisheries, among others; b) guided tours of the Sanctuary; and d) documentation through photos and videos, for the development of communication and knowledge products. 

The exchange visit was held over four days and included field trips on Days 2 and 3. Days 1 and 4 were spent in workshop sessions. Participants presented their work and experiences, discussed good practices and lessons learned, identified upcoming activities by the CFI and linkages between the different CFI Child Projects that could be capitalized on further. The field visit on Day 2 was to the José Mendoza processing plant, which was built and is run by the Consortium. This was followed by a guided tour of the Tumbes Mangrove National Sanctuary and a visit to a sustainable seafood restaurant run by the Consortium, with a chef’s demonstration of the preparation of local dishes. On Day 3 the field visit was to Incabiotec, a biotechnology company for sustainable development that helps repopulate depleted mangrove species – such as the pustulose ark clams (Anadara tuberculosa) on which local livelihoods depend – in a participatory way with local communities and with the Consortium. Participants also visited the Puerto Pizarro landing site and a museum documenting the mangrove ecosystem and its rich diversity of plant and animal species. During all these visits the communications team (writer and video producer) gathered footage and shot interviews with participants, which were later edited into video capsules and disseminated via the CFI website, the FAO YouTube channel and social media.

Presentation of activities on Day 1 (29 November 2022)

On Day 1, participants from the CFI Child Projects were asked to reflect on how their activities contributed to more sustainable fisheries and then to develop a presentation of what they viewed as their key positive experiences during their work with the CFI so far.  The plenary discussion at the end of these presentations highlighted the diversity of experiences across the different projects and the fact that, while countries and contexts may differ, the issues faced by coastal fisheries are quite similar.  In addition, when addressing these issues, there are many solutions and approaches which could be adapted and/or scaled up depending on national contexts. The following common themes emerged:

  • the importance of participatory and inclusive approaches to governance, management, decision-making, scientific research, and conservation for sustainable development;
  • empowering women in fisheries value chains is essential to successful efforts at sustainable management;
  • the importance of working at multiple levels (government, fishing communities, scientific researchers, consumers and different stakeholder groups) and across a range of institutions and organizations to implement CFI activities and ensure future sustainability.

Field visits and CFI Latin America experience demonstration (Days 2 and 3: 30 November and 1 December 2022)

Days 2 and 3 were dedicated to field visits organized by the Consortium of resource user organizations which CFI Latin America has been supporting through capacity building to co-manage the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary. On the first day, participants visited the José Mendoza processing plant run by the Consortium, took a guided tour of the Sanctuary, and visited a sustainable seafood restaurant also run by the Consortium, with a demonstration of how to make traditional dishes based on mangrove crabs and black ark clams. 

On the second day, participants visited the Incabiotec biotechnology laboratory, where participatory research is being conducted with support from CFI Latin America to repopulate mangrove species that local livelihoods depend on. The day also included a visit to the Puerto Pizarro landing site and fish market, where CFI Latin America has provided technical assistance to set up a new traceability system for fish landing data, and to an information center about the Sanctuary, which had detailed exhibits on the mangrove ecosystem and its wealth of biodiversity.

The field visits were widely appreciated and stimulated a series of interesting interactions between participants from other CFI geographies and local fishers, fish processors, officials, and researchers. The activities provided participants with a deep understanding of how to create ecological, economical, and social values for local fishing communities to make co-management sustainable.

Activities on Day 4 (2 December 2022)

On Day 4, participants returned to the workshop setting in Tumbes to share their experience on fisheries and mangrove management, including value chains activities. They developed ideas on collaboration between the different CFI countries over the remaining period of the Initiative and hopefully as part of a CFI second phase. In terms of future exchange activities in 2023/2024, and potentially for CFI’s second phase, several areas of focus were identified: 

  • engagement across all the CFI Child Projects and countries in wider discussions and dissemination of key learning on fisheries and mangrove co-management;
  • wider discussions and exchanges about different finance models, in particular the UNICA experience in Peru;
  • exchanges of experience and learning on traceability mechanisms and their associated technology, and on certification arrangements, drawing on experience in Latin America and Indonesia;
  • learning and exchange on different fish processing techniques and approaches;
  • providing guidance on co-management (including assessments of how co-management is currently being implemented and capacity development for government officials and stakeholders) and on alternative income-generating activities;
  • support to scaling up of good practices, including the UNICA model for access to credit, the Consortium model for co-management and the CFI Challenge Fund approach to involving the private sector;
  • organization of exchange visits, both in-person and virtual, on specific topics;
  • development of knowledge products to share CFI experiences beyond the end of the project;
  • organization of a trade fair for products by CFI fishers and fish workers and/or competitions to make connections with markets and sponsors.

FPAT presentation

A review of the Fisheries Performance Assessment Toolkit (FPAT) that was developed by the CFI in collaboration with the University of Washington and promoted as part of CFI activities was presented. The FPAT is an assessment of the ecological, economic, and social performance of fisheries that combines two well-established tools: a triple-bottom-line rapid assessment known as the Fisheries Performance Indicators (FPIs) and a biological and economic risk assessment known as Method Evaluation and Risk Assessment (MERA). The importance of the FPAT in providing a widely applicable means of comparing the performance of fisheries in different settings was emphasized. 

Lessons learned from the Global Exchange Visit

The combination of workshop activities and field visits proved effective in stimulating discussion, while providing CFI beneficiaries, partners and staff with exposure to new experiences and practices from different geographies. The discussions held in a workshop setting during the first and last days of the exchange visit also provided important inputs into follow-up work by the CFI for a second phase. 

Some key points made include:

Co-management of fisheries and mangroves: 

  • Co-management arrangements will vary from country to country, reflecting the social, cultural, institutional, and political setting in which they are developed. This is illustrated by the experience in Tumbes, where a formal contract between the government and the Consortium was facilitated by a particular context which encourages participation and devolution of decision-making to local resource users. In eastern Indonesia, specifically in Wondama Bay in the Cendrawasih Bay area of West Papua, the Sasi system, a set of traditional rules and practices for sustainable resource use has been adapted to become the basis for a different form of co-management. 
  • In discussions of the experience in Ecuador and Peru regarding co-management of fisheries, the importance of engaging with the full range of stakeholders was emphasized repeatedly. Clearly, as shown by the timelines of successful co-management initiatives in Latin America, this requires time and an adaptive approach, but it is essential in order to achieve the level of participation now seen, for example, in Tumbes, where the signing of a contract between the Government of Peru and the Consortium exemplifies a participatory process that led to a significant transfer of responsibility from government agencies to local communities, which have a vested interest in maintaining the health of the mangrove ecosystem on which their livelihoods depend;
  • The importance of building coalitions to promote and support sustainable fisheries was also emphasized. In Tumbes, the Consortium is working closely with authorities, businesses, and researchers such as those at Incabiotec. The World Bank-led CFI Challenge Fund has also promoted the formation of broad coalitions that bring together resource users, value chain operators, buyers and consumers such as restaurateurs and hoteliers, to create greater incentives for responsible fishing and fish handling practices. As part of the Global Knowledge Competition, such coalitions received CFI Challenge Fund support to develop proposals for solutions to overfishing;
  • A clear definition of roles and responsibilities within these coalitions is critical, as is capacity building, mentoring, and awareness raising to enable stakeholders to operate effectively and take on the management responsibilities that they aspire to.

Co-management requires a readiness on the part of institutions to delegate decision-making responsibility and power to levels that are as close as possible to the territory and the communities and user groups concerned. The significance of this political will should not be underestimated. During workshop discussions about the contract between the Consortium and Peru’s national parks authority (SERNANP, in its Spanish acronym) to manage the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary, SERNANP officials said that it took a significant amount of time and experience for the concept of participatory management to become well-established and understood in Peru. Only then did the delegation of responsibility for the co-management of protected areas to the Consortium become possible.

Livelihood enhancement and diversification

Understanding markets and how to access them is key. When developing new or enhanced products, a first step should be to find out whether there is demand, understand how the products would be placed compared to comparable products and what competitive advantage producers might have compared to others:

  • product quality needs to be ensured for sustainable creation of value added. This can include accessing certification and labelling schemes to attract conscious consumers; 
  • ecotourism can reduce fishing pressure and have positive effects on resource sustainability and ecosystems when used as a complement to fishing;
  • access to credit is often a challenge for small-scale fishers and fish workers. The community-based credit and savings union (UNICA, in its Spanish acronym) model in Peru is a successful example of how communities can build their own financial cushion and become economically self-sustaining;
  • women’s empowerment and involvement in decision-making is crucial to any effort to ensure better livelihoods in sustainable ecosystems;
  • all of the above require capacity building, knowledge sharing and support from appropriate external partners.

Establishing incentives for sustainable fisheries

It is important to understand different types of incentives, including perverse incentives, and how they influence behavior:

  • incentives introduced or provided by governments or organizations to encourage people to change their behavior may be less sustainable than incentives that are built into the social, economic and institutional system surrounding the fisheries. These might be social or value-based incentives (as in the Sasi system in Indonesia), economic incentives (premium prices or preferential market access for sustainable products), or incentives coming from changes in awareness about natural resources and their use;
  • education, particularly of young people and children, is key in creating shifts in perception about sustainable resource use;
  • being part of the decision-making process, being delegated management responsibilities, and having secure access to resources that support their livelihoods are powerful incentives for fishers and fish workers to use resources and ecosystems sustainably;
  • certification schemes leading to better prices for seafood products can be incentives for sustainable practices, including traceability and related data collection. However, small-scale fishers often have difficulty in accessing existing certification schemes;
  • providing support such as capacity building and access to markets and credit schemes can also constitute incentives to change behavior.

The CFI Global Exchange Visit in Tumbes, Peru, consisted of one week of in-person discussions and field visits to meet with fishing communities in the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary in Peru, one of the CFI Latin America pilot sites. For purposes of replication, the following methodological approach was used to organize and coordinate the exchange visit:

  • a concept note was developed which defined the context, the objectives, the methodology, the participants, the coordination aspects, the key thematic areas, the chronogram, and the agenda. It was developed in close consultation with the CFI Child projects and validated by them;
  • a checklist was developed detailing all the follow-up actions to be taken, along with a focal point and a timeline;
  • a budget was defined covering all the estimated costs: international flights, local transportation, daily subsistence allowance, hotels, meals, communication materials, interpretation services, among other; 
  • a logistical note was developed providing key information for participants (travel arrangements, hotel reservations, meals, security advisories, vaccines, visa arrangements, etc.;
  • An annotated agenda was developed with the following activities:
  1. interactive discussions and group work on CFI key thematic areas;
  2. guided observation tours in the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary;
  3. meetings with members of community organizations, local fisheries authorities, local/regional representatives of the ministries in charge of the environment and fisheries, and representatives of fisher associations, among others;
  4. the available knowledge products of CFI-LA and/or other CFI Child Projects will be disseminated, explained and disussed during the community meetings; 
  5. documentation through photos, videos and notes for the development of communication and knowledge products, including press releases, brochures, success stories, factsheets, tweets, briefers, among others.
  6. evaluation of the Global Exchange Visit;
  7. production and publication of the Global Exchange Visit report.

The GEF mandate emphasizes the protection of Global Environment Benefits and the promotion of environmentally sustainable development. Under this framework, the Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) aims to contribute to the global objective of achieving coastal fisheries that deliver sustainable environmental, social and economic benefits by demonstrating holistic, ecosystem-based management and improved governance. 

The CFI was developed based on the recognition of the importance of coastal fisheries, the richness of initiatives and experiences in this domain and the lack of globally agreed solutions and collaboration to make them environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Because many actors work independently from one another and because there is limited capacity in many countries to analyze, coordinate and effectively steer various initiatives towards a similar outcome, there is a great need to identify, refine and disseminate agreed good practices. 

As a GEF-funded project, the CFI has played an important role in catalyzing greater collaboration and fostering knowledge sharing in coastal fisheries at all levels. A significant output of the Global Exchange Visit in Tumbes, Peru, was the desire expressed by participants to develop further opportunities to exchange experience relating to specific activities by the different Child Projects. These exchanges, including in-person visits, training opportunities between countries or online fora to discuss specific issues, will be developed further with CFI suppot in the future. This global knowledge sharing event was highly successful, demonstrating a potentially important justification for the underlying concept of the CFI, namely, to facilitate global learning and exchange on improving coastal fisheries governance. 

REFERENCES

PUBLICATIONS

VIDEOS

LOCAL MEDIA COVERAGE

  • Fatou Sock (fatou.sock@fao.org)
  • Stefania Fumo (stefania.fumo@fao.org)
  • Pierre Negaud Dupenor (pierre.dupenor@fao.org)

Participants departing on the field during CFI Global Exchange Visit, in Tumbes, Peru

Participants visiting Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary, Peru

Participants having working groups during the CFI Global Exchange Visit in Tumbes, Peru