Regional fisheries organizations and sustainable development goals 13 and 14: insights from stakeholders

The importance of the oceans is highlighted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through SDG 14, that aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable use. Regional Fisheries Organizations (RFOs) play a key role in managing fisheries on the high seas and therefore are vital for supporting the successful implementation of SDG 14. SDG 14 is intrinsically linked with SDG 13 (the need to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). As biophysical impacts arise from human-induced climate change affect oceans, and fisheries therein, it is important that RFOs take account of such impacts on the management of fisheries. This paper examines the engagement of RFOs with SDG 14 and climate change through an analysis of interviews with 36 RFO stakeholders. The results show that even though there is consensus concerning the importance of climate change and SDG 14, most of the RFOs are not directly engaging with these two SDGs. However, it was stated that the work done by RFOs, to end overfishing, positively contributes to the realization of climate change and SDG 14, although the actions taken by RFOs need to increase in scale and speed if they are to fulfil their responsibility to effectively manage human impacts on ocean resources. Furthermore, member countries play a key role in supporting or resisting progress. This paper contributes to a gap in the literature concerning current perceptions of stakeholders of the issues RFOs are facing concerning the SDG 14 and climate change.