Executive Summary

The participation of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) in ICARRD+20 provided an important political opportunity to bring forward the perspectives, priorities and demands of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers within global debates on agrarian reform and food sovereignty.
Throughout the conference, WFF representatives consistently highlighted the need to fully recognize aquatic territories — including inland, coastal, estuarine and marine environments — as integral components of broader territorial governance frameworks. This recognition is essential to ensure equitable access to resources, secure tenure rights and support sustainable livelihoods for small-scale fishing communities.
A key message emphasized by the delegation concerns the rapid transformations affecting aquatic ecosystems under the expansion of the so-called “blue economy”. While presented as development opportunities, these dynamics may, in some contexts, lead to risks of resource concentration, exclusion and marginalization of small-scale fishing communities, particularly when governance frameworks fail to ensure meaningful participation and rights-based approaches.
The WFF also stressed the persistent gap between the adoption of international instruments — notably the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries — and their effective implementation on the ground. More than ten years after their adoption, these frameworks remain insufficiently known, inadequately implemented and too often disconnected from the realities of the communities they are intended to support.
In this context, the participation of the WFF contributed to strengthening the visibility of small-scale fisheries issues within ICARRD+20, while also reinforcing alliances with other social movements and key partners, including pastoralist organizations, the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), and the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), around shared struggles related to access, control and governance of territories.
Overall, ICARRD+20 confirmed both the relevance and urgency of advancing a more inclusive and rights- based approach to territorial governance — one that fully integrates small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers as central actors in food systems, environmental stewardship and social justice.
The WFF also put forward concrete proposals aimed at strengthening the recognition of aquatic territories and improving the implementation of existing frameworks.
It should be noted that WFF contributions to the IPC position paper were only partially reflected, which limited the integration of key issues related to small-scale fisheries and aquatic territories. The WFF remains fully committed to strengthening this integration in upcoming processes.

List of Acronyms

FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
WFF – World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers
WFFP – World Forum of Fisher Peoples
IPC – International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty
ICSF – International Collective in Support of Fishworkers
ICARRD – International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
SSF Guidelines – Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries
COFI – Committee on Fisheries (FAO)
UNDRIP – United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UNDROP – United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas
CFS – Committee on World Food Security
VGGT – Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure
CSO – Civil Society Organization

Acknowledgements

The delegation wishes to thank the Colombian State for the commitment it demonstrated in organizing this event and for the quality of the welcome extended to the participants. We also wish to thank the Colombian government for the attention it gave to civil society organizations throughout the entire preparation process of this conference. The delegation also thanks the IPC team (International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty), and in particular the logistics team (Stefano Mori and Pascal Benincasa), which did its utmost to ensure good working conditions to make the stay pleasant and to ensure good working conditions, despite the unforeseen circumstances mentioned later. We also acknowledge the support provided by ICSF (especially Candelaria Araoz Falcon), both logistical and strategic, which was important. Finally, we thank fishers from around the world, as well as the workers of the sea and of inland and coastal waters, whose struggles and daily realities form the foundation of our collective action.

Terminological note

In this report, the terms “artisanal fisheries”, “small-scale fisheries” or “fishing communities” are used in a broad and inclusive sense. They encompass not only capture activities, but also all related activities, including small-scale aquaculture, traditional and subsistence aquaculture, artisanal processing — in which women play a central role — as well as small-scale marketing activities.
This approach covers the full range of aquatic environments in which these activities take place, including inland waters (lakes and rivers), estuarine areas, coastal and marine zones, as well as specific ecosystems such as mangroves.
This terminological choice reflects the reality of fisheries socio-economic systems, which are based on integrated and interdependent aquatic food systems. It also constitutes a political issue in its own right: fully recognizing these activities, these environments and the people who sustain them is essential to ensure equitable approaches to governance, rights and food sovereignty.
Although the terminology used may vary throughout the report, it consistently refers to the full spectrum of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers that the WFF defends and represents. The harmonization and adoption of a common and consensual terminology therefore remain an important issue for future reports and policy documents.

Terminological note – “Maritorios”

The term “maritorio(s)” is used by many small-scale fisheries movements and coastal communities to describe aquatic and marine territories upon which their livelihoods, cultures, and social systems depend.
By analogy with the concept of “territory” in rural contexts, maritorios refer to living spaces that integrate ecological, economic, social, and cultural dimensions linked to marine and coastal ecosystems.
This concept highlights the land–water–sea continuum and reflects the dynamic relationship that fishing communities maintain with their territories, shaped by mobility, ecological cycles, and species migration.
As there is no fully established equivalent in English, several expressions may be used depending on the context, including “aquatic territories,” “marine and coastal territories,” or “marine socio-ecological territories.”

Introduction : ICARRD+20, twenty years later

The International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) took place in Cartagena, Colombia, in February 2026, twenty years after the first conference held in Brazil in 2006 (ICARRD).
Organized by the Government of Colombia, in partnership with FAO and several United Nations agencies, ICARRD+20 aimed to review international commitments related to agrarian reform, access to territories, social justice and the transformation of food systems.
While agrarian reform debates have historically been framed around land issues, aquatic, marine, coastal and inland water territories remain insufficiently integrated into these analytical and policy frameworks. Yet for small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers, access to, control over and governance of these territories are as fundamental as access to land is for peasant communities.
From the perspective of the WFF, agrarian reform in the 21st century cannot be considered complete without the explicit recognition of aquatic territories as spaces of life, work, culture, food sovereignty and collective governance.
The opening ceremony, attended by the President of the Republic of Colombia, His Excellency Gustavo Petro, the Colombian Minister of Agriculture (Ms. Martha Carvajalino) and the Brazilian Minister of Agrarian Development (Mr. Paulo Teixeira), highlighted the highly political nature of the conference and the intention to place land and territorial issues back at the center of public priorities.
The World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF) was officially invited, through the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), to represent the voice of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers worldwide, alongside the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP).
Prior to the conference, the WFF also contributed to the collective work led by the IPC, in particular to the common position paper of social movements. These contributions aimed to better integrate the realities of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers, the specificities of aquatic territories, as well as the land– water–sea continuum. While some of these elements were reflected in the final version of the document, the WFF considers that the integration of issues related to aquatic territories and fishing communities remains partial and needs to be further strengthened.
Both networks, recognized as major international platforms of workers of the sea, emphasized that food sovereignty cannot be fully achieved without sovereignty over seas, inland waters and aquatic resources.
Small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers operate within dynamic territories shaped by ecological cycles and the mobility of resources. Similar to pastoral communities, their rights must be recognized in their mobile, collective and ecological dimensions. Ignoring this reality would reproduce a structural exclusion of the peoples of the sea.
The WFF also recalled that this recognition is grounded in existing international normative frameworks: – the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines),
– the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP),
– as well as human rights-based governance principles.
These instruments now constitute important references for more equitable governance of natural resources. However, their implementation remains uneven and often insufficient. For small-scale fisheries organizations, the challenge now lies in their effective translation into public policies, institutional reforms and governance mechanisms that secure community rights.
The participation of the WFF in ICARRD+20 is part of a strategic continuity: to ensure recognition of aquatic territories within agrarian reform processes, to defend the collective rights of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers, and to embed the peoples of the sea within international frameworks of territorial justice.
In this perspective, ICARRD+20 also constituted an important space for dialogue and convergence among social movements engaged in the defense of territories and food sovereignty. Discussions highlighted the growing links between the struggles of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers, peasant organizations, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and rural workers. These alliances are essential to ensure recognition of the diversity of territories and production systems that sustain millions of livelihoods worldwide.
Why Aquatic Territories Must Be Part of Agrarian Reform
For small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers, access to aquatic territories is as fundamental as land is for rural farmers. Yet, despite decades of debates on agrarian reform, oceans, rivers, lakes and coastal ecosystems remain largely absent from these discussions.
Across the world, millions of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers depend directly on aquatic ecosystems for their livelihoods, food security, cultural identity and social organization. These territories are not simply fishing grounds; they are living socio-ecological systems shaped by generations of knowledge, stewardship and collective governance practices.
However, current development models increasingly threaten these territories. Industrial fisheries, large- scale aquaculture, coastal infrastructure, tourism development, marine conservation policies implemented without community participation, and emerging blue economy initiatives often lead to new forms of dispossession. These processes, frequently described as “blue grabbing,” restrict access to traditional fishing grounds and weaken the social and economic foundations of small scale fishing communities.
From the perspective of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF), agrarian reform debates must therefore expand beyond land to fully recognize aquatic territories and the rights of the communities who depend on them. This includes secure tenure rights, participatory governance of marine and inland fisheries, and the recognition of small-scale fishing communities and fishworkers as legitimate political actors in the governance of natural resources.
Without integrating aquatic territories into agrarian reform debates, the goal of food sovereignty will remain incomplete.

Délégation WFF (ICARRD+20) / List of Participants

– Alieu Sowe – Gambia – (National Association of Artisanal Fisheries Operators (NAAFO)), WFF member (also member of the regional African platform linked to the SSF Guidelines).
– Nestor Roche – Argentina – UAPA – Regional Advisor of the WFF.
– Julian Alberto Medina Salgado – Colombia – Artisanal Fisheries Network of Colombia (Red
de Pescadores Artesanales de Colombia) / local leadership in small-scale fisheries (Golfo de
Morrosquillo).
– Rym Haddaoui – Tunisia – ATDEPA (WFF member).
– Joan Kayisinga – Uganda – KATOSI (Katosi Women Development Trust) (replacing Margaret Nakato).
– Rima Samadder – India – East Coast Fish Workers Union (ECFWU) (replacing Ujjaini Halim).
– Vincent Bihimvyumuderi – Burundi – WFF member – Federation of Fishers and Fish
– Suppliers (Burundi) / SSF actor.
– Virginie Lagarde – France – Pêche et Développement – member of the WFF Executive
Committee – review / contributions to the CIP position paper (ICARRD+20).

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