FIAN International Stands with fisher peoples calling for food system transformation
On the occasion of World Fisheries Day, FIAN International reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the world’s largest fisher peoples’ movement, the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), as they demand systemic reform in global food systems. Fisher peoples are stewards of water bodies and frontline defenders of food sovereignty, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability. Their contribution to feeding the planet should be recognized by governments worldwide, yet their livelihoods are under constant threat.
This year World Fisheries Day coincides with the 8th General Assembly of the WFFP, established in 1997 to resist denial of access and destruction of water resources, combat illegal overfishing, and challenge systemic injustices. Today, the challenges have evolved and multiplied. The aggressive expansion of industrial aquaculture, conservation initiatives like 30x30, which often displace traditional communities, and mechanisms like debt-for-nature swaps that financialize oceans are undermining the very ecosystems that sustain fishing communities. These measures, touted as solutions, frequently ignore the voices of fisher peoples, exacerbating displacement and ecological damage.
The corporate seizure of commons, including rivers, lakes, and oceans, has transformed these shared lifelines into commodities, driving environmental degradation and displacing fisherfolk from their ancestral territories. This commodification erodes cultural practices, identity, and the social fabric of fishing communities, threatening their existence as resilient, self-reliant societies.
Adding to these systemic challenges is the escalating climate crisis. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification, warming waters, and unpredictable weather patterns are depleting fish stocks, disrupting migration routes, and displacing entire communities. For inland and coastal fisherfolk alike, these changes erode traditional knowledge, destroy cultural heritage, and deepen the vulnerability of already marginalized populations.
“We, the fisher peoples, are fighting back,” says Herman Kumara, General Secretary of WFFP at the meeting in Brasilia, Brazil. “We are mobilizing within and beyond the food sovereignty movement to build our responses and reclaim our rights.”
This spirit of resistance is a beacon of hope, demonstrating that change is possible through solidarity and collective action. FIAN International stands with the WFFP, recognizing that their fight is not only about livelihoods. It is also a fight for human rights, ecological integrity, and the future of humanity.
Protecting the world’s waters means safeguarding the rights, dignity, and heritage of those who depend on them. Together, we can ensure a just and sustainable future for fisherfolk and for us all.
For more information please contact: Yifang Slot-Tang: Slot-Tang@fian.org
