Introduction

Overfishing and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) are destructive fishing practices that have a negative impact on sustainable fisheries, livelihoods, and world fish stocks. In 2016, illicit fishing accounted for a staggering 25% of fish of the annual ocean harvest, and was valued at up to $23 billion. This value is lost each year to legitimate fishers. In addition to economic damage, such practices threaten local biodiversity and food security in many countries. An essential step for an effective management of fish resources is the timely acquisition of information on vessels, stocks and catches as well as the exchange of such information between stakeholders.

To address this, UNECE established a Team of Specialists whose aim is to promote, facilitate and support the implementation of sustainable fisheries standards on a global scale, and particularly the Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (FLUX).

The first meeting of the Sustainable Fishery Management Team of Specialists, is scheduled to take place in Geneva from 29-30 January 2018. Participation in this launch meeting will be a key opportunity to be involved from day one, setting the stage for future activities.

The UNECE Secretariat welcomes all key stakeholders to work closely to support the development, enhancement and maintenance of sustainable fishery management practices in a sustainable way and believes that this new Team of Specialists will play an important role in future developments.

The Team of Specialists is open to experts with the knowledge and experience to address its mandate, and should be drawn from governmental institutions, business, civil society, consumer organizations, and international organizations.

Agenda

Room IX, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

	Monday, 29 January 2018
10:00 – 11:00	Opening of the Meeting Olga Algayerova Executive Secretary, UNECE Elsbeth Akkerman Deputy Permanent Representative and Minister Plenipotentiary to the WTO, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Frans van Diepen UN/CEFACT’s Domain Coordinator for Agriculture
	Election of the Chair, Alternate Chair and Vice-Chairs UNECE secretariat
	Adoption of the Agenda Chair
	Introduction of Experts/Tour de Table
11:00 – 13:00	Reports from Partner Organizations David Vivas Eugui Legal Officer, Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, UNCTAD
	Marc Taconet Head of Statistics and Information, Fishery and Aquaculture Department, FAO
	Sajal Mathur Counsellor, Trade and Environment Division, WTO
	Anja von Moltke Acting Head, Trade, Policy and Planning, UNEP
	Alice Tipping Programme Manager, Environment and Natural Resources, ICTSD
	Maris Berzins Policy Office, DG MARE Data Management Unit, European Commission
	Country experiences Romania: Elena Dumitru, Minister Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of Romania Brazil: Henrique Anatole Ramos, Head of the Coordination of Sustainable Use of Fishery Resources, Brazilian Ministry of Environment Namibia and Uganda: Lorenza Jachia, Secretary, UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies
13:00 – 15:00	Lunch break
15:00 – 16:00	Presentation of the draft Vision and Mission statements Followed by discussion on the statement.
	Outcome of this session Acceptance of the final versions of the Vision and Mission statements
16:00 – 18:00	Presentation of the draft Programme of work for 2018-2019 Followed by discussion on the Programme
	Outcome of this session: Acceptance of the final version of the Programme of work for 2018-2019

	Tuesday, 30 January 2018
10:00 – 11:30	Discussion on the Programme of work for 2018-2019 (continued)
	Outcome of this session: Acceptance of the final version of the Programme of work for 2018-2019
11:30 – 12:30	Discussion on how to contribute to the Sustainable Fisheries Team of Specialists
12:30 – 13:00	Planning future activities based on the Programme of work for 2018-2019
13:00 – 13:30	Closure of the meeting

Documents

	ENG	FRE	RUS
Agenda of the First session of the Team of Specialist on Sustainable Fisheries	PDF	PDF	PDF
List of Participants	PDF
Mandate and Terms of Reference of the Sustainable Fisheries Team of Specialists (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2017/16/Rev1)	PDF	PDF	PDF
Vision and Mission Statements of the Team of Specialists on Sustainable Fisheries	PDF
Programme of Work for 2018-2019 of the Team of Specialists on Sustainable Fisheries	PDF
Report of the 1st Meeting of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Sustainable Fisheries	PDF
UN/CEFACT FLUX Brochure	PDF	-	-
UNECE-UN/CEFACT Commitment on Sustainable Fishery Management	Link	-	-
Briefing note on the contribution of UN/CEFACT to UN Sustainable Goal 14 (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2016/18)	PDF	PDF	PDF
Implementing UN/CEFACT e-Business Standards (see chapter 7, page 47)	PDF	-	-

Presentations

Introduction

Frans van Diepen, UN/CEFACT’s Domain Coordinator for Agriculture - FLUX Domain

Reports from Partner Organizations

David Vivas Eugui, UNCTAD - Recent multilateral policy trends in advancing Trade related aspects of SDG 14
Marc Taconet, FAO - FAO’s work areas on sustainable fisheries relevant to UN/CEFACT and FLUX
Sajal Mathur, WTO - Speaking Notes
Anja von Moltke, UNEP - UN Environment – overview on projects and activities relating to fisheries management
Alice Tipping, ICTSD - Sustainable fisheries and trade policy: Selected issues
Maris Berzins, European Commission - European Union experiencewith FLUX

Country Experiences

Romania: Mrs. Elena Dumitru, Minister Plenipotentiary - Statement by Romania
Brazil: Henrique Anatole Ramos, Brazilian Ministry of Environment - Fisheries Document of Origin - D.O.P project (Prezi .exe format)
Namibia and Uganda: Lorenza Jachia, UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies - The Group of Experts on Risk Management in Regulatory systems: Results of the field work

Secretariat Contacts

Ms. Maria Teresa Pisani
Secretary of the Team of Specialist on Sustainable Fisheries UNECE
maria-teresa.pisani@un.org

Mrs. Aruna Vivekanantham
aruna.vivekanatham@un.org

First Session – Team of Specialists on Sustainable Fisheries

Follow UNECE