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ENTEBBE, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | To strengthen sustainable inland fisheries through integrated water resource management (IWRM), the Second Global Workshop on IWRM and Inland Fisheries was held in Entebbe, Uganda. from March 18 to 20, 2025.
Organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Ugandan government, the workshop brought together representatives from regional fisheries bodies (RFBs), basin management organisations (BMOs), member countries, and global experts to refine strategies for incorporating inland fisheries into broader water governance frameworks.
This workshop was a continuation of the “Entebbe Process,” an initiative launched in 2023 to foster collaboration between fisheries and water management organizations worldwide.
“This is the second global workshop that we have organized here in Entebbe,” stated Valerio Crispe, Fishery Officer at FAO’s headquarters in Rome.
“This process is where we have started bringing together representatives of the regional fishery bodies of FAO, which are the commissions dealing with inland fishery around the world.”
The workshop focused on developing an intersectoral methodology for basin management, involving various agri-food systems, including fisheries, agriculture, and animal production.
Participants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are presenting pilot study proposals for key basins, such as Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, the Amazon River, Lake Titicaca, and the Mekong River.
“The overall objective of this workshop is to present an intersectoral methodology to develop a management plan for the basin, and particularly to identify which are the major threats for the basin,” Crispe explained.
“In order then to assist member countries or management organizations to develop a community- based management plan.”
The workshop is also focused on securing funding for these pilot projects, with potential donors like GIZ and Belgian Cooperation participating in sessions to evaluate the proposals.
Dr. Edward Rukunya, Acting Director of Fisheries Resources, emphasized the importance of addressing challenges facing inland fisheries, particularly in regions like Lake Victoria.
“This meeting here today in Entebbe is about integrated water resource management for sustainable inland fisheries and we are here to share experiences between regional fisheries bodies and water management bodies on how best we can work together and have development proposals that lead sustainable fisheries.”
Challenges identified include unsustainable fishing practices, weak co-management structures, water quality issues, aquatic weeds, and sand mining.
“We have observed the issues that relate to unsustainable fishing practices where there is a lot of illegal fishing with the illegal gears increasing now and then, and that one is affecting the sustainability of the fish stocks,” Dr Rukunya said.
The workshop highlighted the crucial role of community involvement in protecting fish breeding areas and ensuring sustainable practices.
“For the communities to preserve and protect the fish breeding areas, we know they have citizen science or indigenous knowledge,” Dr. Rukunya explained. “Working together, we can have community management structures, and the communities can also make bylaws to support their management practices.”
The “Entebbe Process” aims to validate a multi-sectoral approach to basin management, test it through pilot studies, and develop large-scale funding programs. The ultimate goal is to secure food security and sustainable livelihoods for communities dependent on these vital water resources.
“Our FAO mandate is to fight against hunger,” Crispe stated.
“So, for us, what is important is to secure food security, a sustainable production system, like fishery or aquaculture or agriculture, crop, etc., to secure this food security for the community.”
