It’s Taken More than 20 Years and Is Full of Holes, but a New International Agreement Targets Fishing Subsidies
After 20 years of failed negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has secured a deal to curb harmful subsidies that contribute to overfishing. Conservationists and campaign groups welcomed last week’s agreement as historic, despite criticism of “big holes” in the agreement.
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Battling to define success after the WTO summit
It’s a little over three days after the World Trade Organization ministerial came to an agreement as dawn broke over Lake Geneva, and I’m sure some attendees are still catching up on sleep. There’s been a veritable banquet since of hot takes for you to choose from. Among the more thoughtful and optimistic are this thread from academic and former WTO official Nicolas Lamp and this on the fishing subsidies issue from piscine guru Alice Tipping. In today’s main piece I talk with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the institution’s director-general, who was very pugnacious indeed in declaring the ministerial a success, and muse on a couple of themes about how negotiations work and what they mean.
Landmark Agreement Curbing Harmful Fisheries Subsidies Awaits Ratification A Year After Adoption
This month marks the first anniversary of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) historic Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The treaty, adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference, established the first global, legally binding framework that limits subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and fishing of overfished stocks, as well as subsidies to vessels fishing on the unregulated high seas. The agreement also calls for countries to exercise “due restraint” in providing subsidies to vessels that do not fly their country’s flag or those that fish stocks with unknown status.
Source to Sea: Integrating the water agenda in 2023
2023 could prove to be a definitive year for facilitating an integrative perspective on water issues, from fresh water to the marine environment.
S'pore becomes 2nd country to support global agreement ending harmful fisheries subsidies
Singapore has become the second member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ratify its agreement to protect the world’s oceans. On Friday, the Republic formally accepted the treaty – the first multilateral trade agreement that focuses on environmental sustainability – becoming the first coastal state to do so.