Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how an EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed "A diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks". The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and legal instruments of Togo with an EAF. This assessment analysed the extent to which 82 EAF legal requirements, which are considered the minimum standards in legislating for an EAF, are reflected in Togo's policies and legislation relevant to the fisheries sector of the country and other relevant sectors (such as environment, wildlife, ecosystems, and maritime affairs). Based on this preliminary diagnosis, gaps were identified in the assessed instruments, and recommendations were made for improving the implementation of an EAF. This report was elaborated following a participatory approach with the involvement of the national competent authorities of Togo. Drafted in July 2021, the report was submitted to the national authorities of Togo in October 2021. The Ministère de l'économie maritime, de la pêche et de la protection côtière (MEMPPC) [Ministry of Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection] endorsed this EAF Legal Report of Togo in December 2021.

Legislating for the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of the EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how the EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed "A diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks". The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and legal instruments of Thailand with the EAF. This assessment analysed the extent to which 82 EAF legal requirements, which are considered the minimum standards in legislating for the EAF, are reflected in Thailand's policies and legislation relevant to the fisheries sector of the country and other relevant sectors (such as environment, wildlife, ecosystems, and maritime affairs). Based on this preliminary diagnosis, gaps were identified in the assessed instruments, and recommendations were made for improving the implementation of the EAF. This report was elaborated following a participatory approach with the involvement of the national competent authorities of Thailand. Drafted in July 2021, the report was submitted to the national authorities of Thailand in October 2021 and endorsed in March 2022.

Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how an EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed "A diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks". The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and legal instruments of Ghana with an EAF. This assessment analysed the extent to which 82 EAF legal requirements, which are considered the minimum standards in legislating for an EAF, are reflected in Ghana's policies and legislation relevant to the fisheries sector of the country and other relevant sectors (such as environment, wildlife, ecosystems, and maritime affairs). Based on this preliminary diagnosis, gaps were identified in the assessed instruments, and recommendations were made for improving the implementation of an EAF. This report was elaborated following a participatory approach with the involvement of the national competent authorities of Ghana. Drafted in July 2021, the report was submitted to the national authorities of Ghana in October 2021. The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development of Ghana and the Fisheries Commission endorsed this EAF Legal Repot of Ghana in December 2021.

As part of the EAF-Nansen Programme activities, a workshop was organized on ecosystem characterization at the FAO Headquarters in Rome from 21 to 23 August 2018. The workshop aimed at identifying relevant ecosystem characterization approaches for data limited areas, defining best-practice methods for ecosystem characterization in data limited regions and how these should be applied, suggesting how this knowledge can feed into decision-making at tactical and strategic levels, defining how uncertainty in the methods can be taken into account and communicated, and understanding existing challenges and ongoing efforts in targeted regions that may be of relevance to ecosystem characterization. The expected outputs of the workshop were a report describing best methods/approaches for ecosystem characterizations in data-limited regions and an action plan for future case studies in two regions.

This is the report of the workshop on habitat mapping held as part of the activities under the implementation of the Science Plan of the EAF-Nansen Programme “Supporting the application of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries management considering climate and pollution impacts”. The workshop was held at the Hotel Abitart in Rome, Italy from 4 to 6 December 2018, with the main objectives of providing an overview of habitat mapping in the context of the EAF-Nansen Programme, reviewing and learning from past mapping experiences and modelling approaches and tools, and developing ‘best practice guidelines’ for exploratory habitat mapping and follow-up analyses in data poor waters.