GENEVA – The World Trade Organization (WTO) launched up a ministerial meeting on Thursday (July 15) aimed at reviving long-running talks on ending overfishing subsidies, but there are still a number of sticking issues. Before the conference, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious hope that after 20 years of discussions, trade ministers from the organization’s 164 member states would finally be able to reach a “historic” accord.
“While no one anticipates a miracle,” she wrote in an editorial published Wednesday in Project Syndicate, “the meeting represents a golden opportunity to bring the negotiations within striking distance of an agreement.”
“Failure to do so would jeopardize the ocean’s biodiversity as well as the long-term viability of the fisheries on which so many people rely for food and money.”
The talks aim to prohibit subsidies that contribute to illegal and uncontrolled fishing, as well as overfishing, which endangers fish stocks and the industry’s long-term viability.
While the environment should, in theory, keep fishing in check, with poor fish stocks driving up costs, subsidies can keep unproductive fleets at sea.
It is commonly acknowledged that action is required to protect a vital resource on which millions of people rely for their survival.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, one-third of global fish stocks were overfished in 2017.
According to the World Trade Organization, global fisheries subsidies range from $14 billion to $54 billion each year.
However, two decades of negotiations have stalled over a number of problems, including a UN demand for special treatment for developing countries and the poorest countries.
However, after missing the previous UN deadline of December 2020 to achieve an agreement, talks have heated up in recent months.
“HISTORIC”Okonjo-Iweala, who took over the global trade group in March, has made it a goal to reach a long-awaited fisheries agreement by the end of the year.
The conference on Thursday, which is being held electronically owing to Covid restrictions, will focus on a draft statement provided in May by Colombian ambassador Santiago Wills, who chairs the WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies.
Okonjo-Iweala expressed confidence that “marathon conversations” on the text, which Wills claims provides “compromise language” in a number of areas, would be successful.
“We are on the verge of establishing an agreement at the WTO that will be historic in more ways than one,” she said, adding that a deal would also demonstrate that “members can join together and act on global commons challenges.”
At the WTO, reaching any form of agreement can be difficult because all decisions must be agreed upon by all member states.
Observers, though, said there had been a noticeable increase in the momentum toward a settlement.
“We’ve never had more political focus on the problem, (nor) the level of political commitment from WTO members to truly progress this text,” Alice Tipping of the International Institute for Sustainable Development told reporters in Geneva.
ARE YOU IN NEED OF SPECIAL CARE?
However, a number of stumbling blocks remain, and non-governmental organizations advise against racing to the finish line at any costs.
“When negotiating a fisheries subsidies deal, it’s vital that WTO members don’t sacrifice environmental outcomes for the sake of speed,” Isabel Jarrett of The Pew Charitable Trusts told AFP.
A UN requirement that developing countries and the poorest nations receive so-called special and differential treatment, or SDT, has been one of the major roadblocks.
While special treatment for the poorest countries is universally recognized, certain self-identified developing countries’ demands for exemption from subsidy limitations have been tough to swallow.
Many of the world’s major fishing nations, including China, which has one of the world’s largest fishing fleets, are classified as developing countries by the WTO.
A declaration from China that it was willing to assume “full commitments without claiming SDT” would be “extremely beneficial” to the discussions, an EU official told reporters this week.
There is also debate concerning the scope of the fisheries agreement.
There appears to be agreement that fish farming and continental fishing should be exempt from subsidy restrictions.
However, some developing countries are demanding for fuel subsidies to be included in the agreement, notably through tax deduction schemes similar to those used in the EU, which the bloc categorically rejects./n
