Equity in Fisheries Development: A Critical Analysis of the Global Environment Facility

Abstract

Fisheries are a vital source of food and income for billions of people globally. Climate change and unsustainable fishing practices are threatening global fish stocks, ecosystems, and the food and income security of the fishers who depend on marine natural resources. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the capacity to adapt to these changes is limited, and outside aid is often required. This aid, however, can sometimes take inequitable forms, which exacerbate marginalization, exclude vulnerable stakeholders, and/or damage the ecosystems they aim to protect. This thesis analyzed fisheries development projects approved and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a funding arm of the United Nations (UN), in an effort to catalogue the types of interventions used and uncover any inequitable attributes which may reduce project effectiveness or produce negative outcomes for already marginalized fishers in LMICs. Based on this analysis and the context provided by GEF documents and a UN audit of GEF activities, I contend GEF’s project design and implementation frameworks contain systemic inequitable attributes and employs interventions with limited ability to increase adaptive capacity. Predicting and accounting for inequitable attributes is crucial to ensuring more equitable outcomes in the expanding Blue Economy. As GEF receives its mandate from the UN and other multilateral environmental agreements such as the Paris Agreement, this analysis can help inform policy decisions at the highest levels and improve development activities at global, regional, and local scales.