7th General Assembly of WFFP (Nov 15-21, 2017)
T.Peter was the General Secretary of the National Fishworkers Forum(NFF) at the time WFFP held its 7th GA. He passed away in October 2020 due to Covid-19. He is remembered by his WFFP family.
Please find GA report:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:2c5f9cad-0c68-4095-9959-5499d963b504
Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=NFFIndia&set=a.305981916555957
The 7th General Assembly of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP GA-7) jointly hosted by WFFP and the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), India has been going on in New Delhi from 15th November. The Closing Ceremony and Valedictory Function was held on 20th November 2017 at 5pm at the NDMC Convention Centre, New Delhi.
Over the last five days, the delegates from more than 50 countries of WFFP along with members of the NFF from nine coastal states of India attended sessions which had presentations by all member countries on the status of fisheries and detailed workshops on issues of Ocean Grabbing, Small Scale Fisheries Guidelines, Food Sovereignty and Agro-Ecology and Inland Fisheries. The Delhi declaration of WFFP GA-7 drawn from these detailed sessions was presented by Christiana (newly elected Gen. Sec, WFFP) was presented at the valedictory function. This year also marks the election year of the WFFP and the new Coordination Committee members was declared by the Election Committee and Nadine Orchid Nembhard was elected its General Secretary, while Moises Osorto Caceres and Christiana Louwa were elected as Co-chairs. Leo Coloco (NFF Maharashtra), Mohammed Ali Shah (Pakistan) and Herman Kumara (Sri Lanka) are the South Asian representatives.
Dr Shashi Tharoor (Member of Parliament) congratulated the WFFP for the much needed declaration and asserted the need to also protect the primary access rights of resources to the traditional fisher people. He recollected how he had made the demand with the UPA government to have a separate Ministry of Fisheries and detailed the need to have it instituted.
Medha Patkar (Naramda Bachao Andolan and National Alliance of People’s Movement) shared how assertive the farmer’s rally that happened at Parliament Street today had been and defined farmers as that which encompasses women, dalits, adivasis and fishworkers as well. She added that Shashi Tharoor, as the MP of Thiruvananthapuram should demand that Vizhinjam project that is hazardous to the lives of livelihood of thousands of people be scrapped.
Prafulla Samanthra (Winner of Goldman Environmental Prize Award 2017) stated the need of forming alliances: both at the local level and the global levels, by movements. He pointed out that fishworkers should fight for something like the Forest Rights Act and ensure that it is implemented for the benefit of the traditional natural resource dependent communities.
WFFP denounced the decision of Government of India to discourage participation from members of Pakistan Fishworkers Forum at the WFFP GA-7. WFFP also raised concerns regarding the construction of the Rampal Power Plant at Rampla Upazila in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh, which threatens the ecology and livelihood of fishers in the region. WFFP also supports NFF’s agitation against the Sagarmala Programme of the Government of India which is an assault on livelihood of fisherpeople.
GA-7 highlighted the many commonalities between issues faced by fishing, peasant and indigenous communities – especially among women and youth – who are all food producers dependent on natural resources for their lives and livelihoods. The WFFP along with delegates from numerous allied organizations from around the world – including the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) and La Via Campesina (LVC) unanimously declared “the sovereignty of the traditional, natural resource-based communities over the land, water-bodies and oceans of the world.” The GA-7 detailed the crisis that they face through extractive industries, the expansion of big infrastructure projects, as well as capital-intensive fisheries, aquaculture and agriculture.
The declaration highlighted the impact that climate change due to sea level rise, floods, coastal storms, increasing water temperatures, loss of aquatic biodiversity, and forced displacement has on fishing communities. The GA-7 condemned the application of false mitigation solutions, such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and blue carbon initiatives which often lead to “land, water and ocean grabbing” and opposed the justification of resource grabbing framed as ‘sustainable development’, ‘blue growth’ or the ‘beautification’ of our ocean, land and water territories. The GA-7 also stressed the need for taking important and powerful steps toward achieving gender equity in their communities, and in fisheries sectors globally.
Naseegh Jaffer (Ex-Gen. Sec. WFFP) wished Ms. Nadine Orchid Nembhard (Gen. Sec. WFFP) and congratulated the WFFP Coordinating Committee to take forward the fight for the rights of fisherpeople. T.Peter (Gen. Sec., NFF Kerala) and Leo Colaco (WFFP India) also addressed the gathering. The cultural performance by Murasu Kalai Kuzhu (Tamil Nadu) and other groups from Maharashtra, Kerala and West Bengal reiterated the motto of WFFP GA-7, “We are the Ocean; We are the People”.
The World Fisheries Day 21st November will be celebrated by a rally and Public Meeting at Parliament Street tomorrow, from 10 am onwards. WFFP and NFF will jointly participate in this rally.