Topic: Protecting International Fisheries
Country: Uganda
Delegate Name: Morgan Russell
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Uganda position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Protecting international fisheries is imperative in order for humans to maintain a content state. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that global marine fisheries production is growing immensely with an upward trend. Despite that many nations admit the importance of conserving fish stocks within their territorial waters or the Exclusion Economic Zone, no regulations are in place to ensure the perseveration of fish stocks. The head of the United Nations Environmental Committee (UNEC), Erik Solheim, admits that “fisheries are the lifeblood of communities and economies the world over,” and they face threats from “overfishing, ecosystem damage and climate change is global as well.” Alarmingly, three out of every four stocks are overfished according to the European Union Commissioner for fisheries. This is a serious threat towards their sustainability. Fisheries are crucial to maintaining the ecological balance of the oceans. Oceans are essential to humankind because they provide over 50% of the world’s oxygen in the atmosphere and about 70% of the world is covered by oceans. The Republic of Uganda is richly endowed with natural water bodies; this results in fisheries supplying an abundance of jobs to the Ugandan people. Due to this, fisheries play a crucial role in the economy.
Our country, according to FAO, produces up to “15,000 tonnes of fish from aquaculture, including production from small-scale fish farmers, emerging commercial fish farmers and stocked community water reservoirs and minor lakes”. In Uganda, an estimated 12,000 farmers are involved in aquaculture. Due to this, fisheries are essential to the Ugandan people. Without aquaculture, the increase in poverty, the worsening of the economy, and the increase in illness would be inevitable. We have implemented several acts, such as The Land Act of 1995 and The National Agriculture Research System Act of 2005. The Land Act of 1995 states the responsibility system for land ownership and legal rights of what can be done in and on one's land. The Act also defines ownership of wetlands, swamps, and other shallow waters. The National Agriculture Research System Act of 2005 regulates fisheries and aquaculture research among other agriculture research areas. Although we are doing our best to protect our fisheries, we still need more support from other countries to further help the world.
The Republic of Uganda wishes upon the rest of the UN members to learn from our efforts so they can be successful as well. Opposed to simply stripping away the environment of nonrenewable resources for personal benefit, the damages done by doing so need to be considered as well. All around the world, fisheries are being taken advantage of fisheries and are being destroyed. If other countries began valuing fisheries as we do, their agriculture and environmental levels will both improve. We would like to see more laws passed about the preservation of this prominent issue. If fisheries were stripped from our country, we would not be anywhere close to the level of success we have today. By following our example of using fisheries in a sustainable way, other economies will be able depend on them for decades to come too. Once the economy continues to improves more people would be able to become employed and, once out of unemployment, regain a proper lifestyle. Next, our country believes in economic cooperation along with maintaining a mutual economic goal. We urge the rest of the UN to unite with us as we work together to achieve maximum success. Collaborating allows for everyone's ideas to be used together, an array of approaches and techniques on a topic, and more in depth research. Through collaboration, implementing policies about the preservation and laws regarding fisheries would be ideal. By repeating our actions the world will not only be a healthier place to live but a happier place too.
