THE LOW HANGING FISH CAMPAIGN AT WTO MC-11, BUENOS AIRES

05 December 2017

The Low Hanging Fish campaign team will be on site in Buenos Aires to monitor progress and comment on developments, for the duration of the WTO ministerial conference, from 7 December onward.

We are available to exchange views with WTO members, WTO staff, NGO and civil society representative, and to share our expectations and reactions with representatives of the media.

We are registered for the WTO conference as observers as representatives of BLOOM and of The Varda Group respectively. Our team is led by two well-known veteran ocean advocates: Claire Nouvian, CEO and Founder of BLOOM and Rémi Parmentier, Director of the Varda Group and political adviser to BLOOM. We can conduct meetings and interviews in English, Spanish and French. A member of our team can also speak in Portugues/Brasileiro.

Media relations: Please contact Inés de Agueda. Inés can put you in touch with the right campaign spokesperson, depending on the issue you want to address and at when.

Inés can also help you locate and/or meet the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson from Fiji. Ambassador Thomson’s mandate is the implementation of SDG14, the Ocean Sustainable Development Goal, hence he has a special interest in seeing the WTO come through with an agreement on the elimination of harmful subsidies.

We shall participate in a number of public events in Buenos Aires in the next two weeks:

Thursday 7 December:

9h30-14h00: Curtain-raiser for Argentine and Latin American audience at University del Salvador (Address: Viamonte 2213, 8º piso)

The Buenos Aires Environment Agency is organizing a conference on Ocean Health and the implementation of SDG14, the Ocean Sustainable Development Goal, with Rémi Parmentier and Claire Nouvian as special guests and keynote speakers.

The event will include a panel discussion with Claire and Rémi, Emiliano Ezcurra (Head of Argentina’s National Parks Administration), Juan Filgueira (President of the Environment Agency of Buenos Aires), Ramiro Callafel Carranza (University del Salvador) and Guillermo Cañete (Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina). It is expected that Argentina’s Environment Minister will deliver some closing remark.

Click here to see the full programme and register to attend this event.

Sunday 10 December:

Official opening of WTO conference.

Monday 11 December:

10h45-12h15: We are organizing a Special Session on Fisheries Subsidies at the Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium held in Bolsa de Cereales (Cereals Exchange). An interactive dialogue with UN Secretary General Special Envoy Ambassador Peter Thomson, Ambassador David Walker Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the WTO, and BLOOM CEO Claire Nouvian, with Rémi Parmentier of the Varda Group as facilitator. Attendees will also be encouraged to contribute from the floor.

It is important to register in advance of this event (limited space and security requirements)

13h30-15h00: We shall attend UNCTAD’s session on Fish Trade Fisheries Subsidies & SDG 14 at the Sheraton Puerto Madero. Registration is also compulsory for this event moderated by the UN Secretary General Special Envoy Ambassador Peter Thomson

Tuesday 12 December :

12h30: We have reserved Room 405 at the NGO Center for a media and stakeholders briefing. We expect that fisheries economist Dr. Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia, Canada will join the rest of the speakers at this briefing.

Address: CCK – Centro Cultural Krischner Sarmiento 151

Wednesday 13 December:

13h30-15h00: Back at the Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium (Bolsa de Cereales) BLOOM CEO Claire Nouvian will participate in the E15 Initiative Panel session to review and analyse the progress that has been made so far and what remains to be done on subsidies disciplines across the WTO.