UNCTAD and CITES jointly organise World Wildlife Day event, Life Below Water: For People and Planet

The 2019 World Wildlife Day theme on “Life Below Water: for People and Planet” is a timely reminder that our oceans and the species living in there are under serious threat.  This is the first time that a Wild Life Day celebration focuses on marine species and SDG 14: Life below water.

Today we are watching the rise of Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, overfishing of commercial valuable marine species, plastic pollution and variations of seawater temperature and its chemistry just to name a few. Certain shark, ray, fish, conches, and coral species that are commercially valuable have been targeted by irresponsible and unethical harvesting and subsequent trade.

More than 3 billion people depend on fishing for living and yet many ignore its importance for sustainable development and livelihood of coastal communities. Regulating trade “from fish to dish” in relevant seafood and non-edible value chains is therefore one of the most significant responses to the decline in marine wildlife.

The role of CITES and UNCTAD in regulating such trade to secure sustainability and legality in sourcing must be praised and underlined.

UNCTAD is directly contributing to the implementation of SDG 14 by seeking to phase out subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing, overfishing and overcapacity. It is also introducing a system in electronic customs procedures under its ASYCUDA programme to enable countries to comply with national and international regulations under CITES and by enabling sustainable use under a Blue BioTrade approach. More, specifically, UNCTAD has been supporting, in cooperation with CITES and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the development of value chains for queen conch, harvesting of certain shark species and nature-based tourism (i.e. whale watching) in Latin-American and the Caribbean so that they comply with economic and environmental sustainability criteria under a marine ecosystem approach.