Annex 1. Binding and Non- Legally Binding International Instruments That Govern Sustainable Aquaculture

 

Arron Honniball and Blaise Kuemlangan

Binding Instruments

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar, 1971). The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES (Washington, DC, 1973).

CITES strives to ensure that international trade in listed specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS (Bonn, 1979). The CMS raises the need to consider aquaculture impacts on listed migratory species, which include various marine mammals and waterbirds.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS (Montego Bay, 1982). UNCLOS governs all aspects of ocean space and sets out jurisdictional rights and conservation responsibilities relating to marine living resources.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC (New York, 1992). The UNFCCC has provided a foundation for fostering national mitigation and adaptation commitments to address climate change and ocean acidification. Those commitments have been further elaborated through the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015).
Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). The CBD calls upon Member States to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity, and to ensure access and benefit sharing from genetic resources. The CBD supports ecosystem and precautionary approaches and promotes in situ conservation in protected areas.

Cartagena Biosafety Protocol (Cartagena, 2000). The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.

Honniball, A. & Kuemlangan, B. 2017. Binding and Non-Legally Binding International Instruments That Govern Sustainable Aquaculture. In J. Aguilar-
Manjarrez, D. Soto & R. Brummett. Aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management under the ecosystem approach to aquaculture. Full document,
pp. 63–66. Report ACS113536. Rome, FAO, and World Bank Group, Washington, DC. 395 pp.

Non-Binding Instruments and Guidelines

Kyoto Declaration on Aquaculture (1976). Adopted at the first FAO organized aquaculture conference, the Declaration placed the spotlight on the absence of an adequate legal basis for aquaculture development in many countries. Governments are urged to enact aquaculture legislation facilitating the establishment of aquaculture industries and enabling the zoning of suitable coastal and inland areas for aquaculture.
Agenda 21 (1992). Chapter 17 of this global action plan for achieving sustainable development urges countries to: provide for an integrated policy and decision-making process, including all involved sectors; promote compatibility and balance of use; implement integrated coastal and marine management plans; apply preventative and precautionary approaches in project planning and implementation; and prepare land and water use and siting policies.
Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development (1992). Adopted at the Rio Conference on Environment and Development, the Declaration sets out 27 principles as sustainable development guideposts. Key principles to be followed at the national level include: intra- and intergenerational equity (principle 3); public participation (principle 10); the precautionary approach (principle 15); and environmental impact assessment (principle 17).
FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995).
Applying to fisheries but also to aquaculture, the Code encourages States to: develop and maintain appropriate legal and administrative frameworks to facilitate the development of responsible aquaculture; produce and regularly update aquaculture development strategies and plans; establish environmental assessment and monitoring procedures specific to aquaculture; and to integrate aquaculture into coastal area management. States are urged to ensure responsible siting and management of aquaculture activities, which could affect transboundary aquatic ecosystems.
FAO Technical Guidelines for Aquaculture Development (1997). The Guidelines promote the siting of aquaculture activities in locations which: are suitable for sustainable production and income generation; are economically and socially appropriate; prevent or minimize conflicts with other resource users; and respect nature preserves, protected areas and critical or especially sensitive habitats. To ensure that livelihoods of local communities and their access to fishing grounds are not negatively affected by aquaculture, government authorities are encouraged to foster agreements between aquafarmers and fishers to avoid resource conflicts and to subject large-scale aquaculture developments to social and economic assessments.
Bangkok Declaration and Strategy for Aquaculture Development Beyond 2000 (2000). The Declaration emphasizes that aquaculture should be pursued as an integral component of development, contributing through sustainable livelihoods for the poor and enhancing social well-being. The need for national aquaculture policies and regulations to promote economically viable but also environmentally responsible and socially acceptable farming practices is also highlighted. The Strategy notes the importance of integrating aquaculture into coastal area and inland watershed management plans and ensuring aquaculture developments are within local and regional carrying capacities. The Strategy calls for clarifying legal frameworks and policy objectives regarding access and user rights for farmers and developing comprehensive and enforceable laws and procedures that encourage sustainable aquaculture.
International Principles for Responsible Shrimp Farming (2006). The International Principles are aimed at countering inappropriate and unplanned siting of shrimp farms. Guidance is given for farm siting, in particular, not building new shrimp farms above the intertidal zone; ensuring no net loss of mangroves or other sensitive wetland habitats; not locating new shrimp farms in areas already at their carrying capacity for aquaculture; retaining buffer zones between farms and other users; and obeying land use and coastal management plans. The International Principles urge the preparation of integrated coastal area management plans that designate environmentally suitable locations for shrimp farms and other types of aquaculture.
FAO Guidelines on the Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (2010). The Guidelines stress the need for integrated planning and management systems and the need to pay more attention to the watershed scale where clusters of farms may have cumulative ecosystem effects. The Guidelines clarify that zoning may be used either in planning to identify potential areas for aquaculture or a regulatory measure to control the development of aquaculture.
Sustainable Development Goals (2015). Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Target 14.7 addresses aquaculture and calls for increasing by 2030 the economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources including through the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism, to small island developing states and least developed countries.