2025 ACUNS Workshop

The 2025 ACUNS (Academic Council on the United Nations System) Workshop, held from 23–25 June in Nairobi, Kenya, convened leading global scholars, policy practitioners and civil society actors under the theme Environmental Multilateralism and Human Development. The workshop provided a critical platform to explore the nexus of climate governance, sustainable development and social justice in a multilateral context.

Among the notable participants was Dr Samantha Williams, representing the Inclusive Society Institute (ISI), who contributed significantly to the workshop’s discourse through a well-received presentation titled Advancing Small-Scale Fisheries in South Africa: Pathways to Sustainability and Equity within the Blue Economy Framework. Her participation underscored the Institute’s commitment to inclusive and sustainable development, particularly within the marine and coastal sectors that are vital to vulnerable communities in South Africa and beyond.

Dr Williams' presentation formed part of a broader dialogue on how environmental multilateralism can be reframed to include historically marginalised communities, such as small-scale fishers. Her work focused on the South African context, where nearly 30,000 subsistence fishers across 147 coastal communities depend on marine resources for their livelihoods. She highlighted the crucial socio-economic and cultural roles that small-scale fisheries (SSFs) play, noting that they contribute 40% of the global fish catch and support over 500 million people worldwide.

One of the key messages in her presentation was the urgent need to address the marginalisation of small-scale fishers within South Africa’s growing Blue Economy agenda. Dr Williams traced the policy evolution from post-apartheid reforms to the landmark 2012 Small-Scale Fisheries Policy, and the subsequent Oceans Economy Master Plan (OEMP) under Operation Phakisa. She argued that despite legal recognition, many SSF communities continue to face exclusion, inadequate infrastructure and environmental threats, particularly from offshore mining and seismic exploration.

For full report click here

For the presentation click here