FAO.org

Both the CFS Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Right to Food Guidelines) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) hold the realization of the right to adequate food as their main objective. The Right to Food Guidelines emphasizes the role of small-scale producers in several sections and the SSF Guidelines as their first objective call “to enhance the contribution to fisheries to food security and nutrition and support the realization to the right to adequate food”.

This brief is part of a series drawing attention to the mutually reinforcing nature of four global normative instruments developed through the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) SSF Guidelines. The four CFS instruments with direct links to the SSF Guidelines are the CFS Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Right to Food Guidelines), the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI Principles) and the CFS Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crisis (CFS-FFA). Their synergistic implementation can make a difference in enabling small-scale fisheries to contribute to sustainable food systems by providing highly nutritious food for local communities, and it can make a difference for consumers in national, regional, and international markets.

The briefs aim at highlighting key commonalities among these CFS instruments and the SSF Guidelines, and provide some illustrative examples to inspire action by all, including by governments, small-scale fisheries organizations or other civil society organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and research and development partners.