Essam Yassin Mohammed

WorldFish

Aquatic foods from marine and freshwater systems are critical to the nutrition, health, livelihoods, economies and cultures of billions of people worldwide, but climate-related hazards may compromise their ability to provide these benefits. Here, we estimate national-level aquatic food system climate risk using an integrative food systems approach...

Climate information services (CIS) are increasingly in demand to assist farmers in managing risks associated with climate variability and extremes experienced in food production. However, there are significant gaps in the availability and accessibility of these services, especially in aquatic food production in developing countries. In response, th...

KEYNOTE POINTS 1. Understanding of the ocean continues to improve. Innovations in sensors andautonomous observation platforms have substantially increased observations of the ocean. Regional observation programmes have expanded, with better coordination and integration. 2. Some responses for mitigating or reducing pressures and their associated...

KEYNOTE POINTS 1. The purpose of the second World Ocean Assessment is to update the first World Ocean Assessment by providing an understanding of changes that have occurred in the global ocean since 2010 and associated trends. 2. The Assessment also provides an overview of understanding of some aspects not fully covered in the first Assessment, s...

Current national statistics do not capture the true value of Myanmar’s hilsa fisheries. As a result, investment in the sustainable and inclusive management of its artisanal hilsa fisheries is limited. This study estimates the economic value of artisanal hilsa fisheries in Myanmar, using artisanal income data to estimate use value and a benefit tran...

Hilsa shad is one of the most important fisheries in Myanmar, providing livelihoods and nutrition to thousands of vulnerable communities. However, overfishing and habitat destruction are putting at risk the sustainability of the fishery. This study aims to expand the knowledge of the ecology of the hilsa fishery, by discussing the seasonality and p...

The hilsa shad is one of the most commercially valuable fish species in Myanmar, but it is under threat. As part of a project designing a system of incentive-based management for hilsa fisheries in Myanmar, this study explores how fiscal tools such as licence fees and taxation could be used to finance the system. We clearly demonstrate that by incr...

This study provides key insights for the development of incentive-based conservation schemes for hilsa in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta. The results of a choice experiment suggest on average a willingness to participate in such conservation schemes. Some potential management options for conservation schemes such as additional closed fishing periods an...

The UN General Assembly has made a unanimous decision to start negotiations to establish an international, legally-binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity within Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). However, there has of yet been little discussion on the importance of this move to the ecosyst...

While most fisheries are already overexploited, many governments allocate capacity-enhancing subsidies to the fishing sector, encouraging further overfishing. Target 14.6 of Sustainable Development Goal 14 and WTO negotiations to eliminate harmful subsidies both call for action on reform. Although the impacts of subsidies on fishing stocks are rela...

It is notoriously difficult to obtain data for fisheries, especially for the more elusive small-scale sector, which tends to operate under the radar. These guidelines aim to assist national statistics officers and others improve the way they account for small-scale fisheries (SSF). We do this in two steps: 1) summarising current efforts to collect...

Effective implementation of management interventions is often limited by uncertainty, particularly in small-scale and developing-world fisheries. An effective intervention must have a measurable benefit, and evaluation of this benefit requires an understanding of the historical and socio-ecological context in which the intervention takes place. Thi...

Conservation payments are increasingly advocated as a way to meet both social and ecological objectives, particularly in developing countries, but these payments often fail to reach the 'right' individuals. The Government of Bangladesh runs a food compensation scheme that aims to contribute to hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) conservation by improving the...

Respondent profile. (PDF)

Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (BLUPs) for the random effects for the probability of receiving compensation. The x axes show the effect of living in a particular district (a) or village (b) in terms of the difference in probability of receiving compensation from the intercept. Error bars show the 95% confidence interval based on the conditional va...

Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (BLUPs) for the random effects for the probability of reporting fairness of compensation distribution. The x axes show the effect of living in a particular district (a) or village (b) in terms of the difference in probability of reporting fairness from the intercept. Error bars show the 95% confidence interval based...

Model selection table for GLMM with probability of receiving compensation. (PDF)

Model selection table for GLMM with probability of receiving compensation, excluding Chandpur. (PDF)

Results for GLMMs of probability of (a) receiving compensation; and (b) perceiving fair compensation distribution–excluding Chandpur district. (DOCX)

Model selection table for GLMM with probability of perceiving fair distribution of compensation. (PDF)

Model selection table for GLMM with probability of perceiving fair distribution of compensation, excluding Chandpur. (PDF)

Development of an index for fishing dependence. (PDF)

Household survey questionnaire. (PDF)

Survey design methods. (PDF)

Groups of people that respondents perceived to be and thought should be receiving compensation. The total percentage is more than 100 because some respondents (n = 799) gave multiple answers. (PDF)

Distribution of food grain compensation for hilsa fishers in Bangladesh from 2004 to 2014. Source: DoF 2014. (PDF)

More than one billion people still live below the poverty line – most of them in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial inclusion is a major issue, as more than three-quarters of the numbers of poor and disadvantaged women and men do not have access to financial products and services, such as bank accounts, affordable and suitable loans, and...

Fisheries play an important role in meeting global food demands. But coastal fisheries are in decline due to overfishing – and fisheries management in developing world countries is also complicated by significant poverty levels. In response, fisheries managers are increasingly using economic incentive-based approaches to reward beneficiaries – such...

Governments adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at ushering in a new era of sustainable development where ‘no one is left behind.’ They include a specific goal — SDG 14 — to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources. While policymakers can use a number of legal, regulatory and economic tools to do so, there s...

Last year, governments adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at ushering in a new era of sustainable development where ‘no one is left behind.’ They include a specific goal — SDG 14 — to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources. While policymakers can use a number of legal, regulatory and economic tools to do...

The trans-disciplinary thematic areas of oceans management and policy require stocktaking of the state of knowledge on ecosystem services being derived from coastal and marine areas. Recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially Goals 14 and 15 explicitly focus on this. This Handbook brings together a carefully chosen set of worl...

Hilsa is Bangladesh’s most important single-species fishery: for cultural identity, earnings and employment. However, overfishing, habitat destruction, siltation, pollution and climate change have driven catches down, and management policies have not adequately intervened — probably because the fishery’s total economic value is under-appreciated. T...

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) fishery management in Bangladesh is a rare example of ‘carrot-and-stick’ management in developing world fisheries. Impact evaluation traditionally relies on the projection of counterfactuals and so, due to the limited availability of baseline social and ecological data in the hilsa fishery, there has been no rigorous impact...

Bangladesh's hilsa shad (Tenulosa ilisha) comprises the largest single-species fishery in the country, constituting 11 per cent of the total catch and employing 2.5 million people directly or indirectly. Since 2003, following a sharp decline in catch figures, the hilsa fish has been the subject of a government conservation programme offering fisher...

Marine and coastal ecosystems provide a range of critical ‘ecosystem services’, from biodiversity and culture to carbon storage and flood protection. Yet pollution, overfishing, climate change and habitat destruction are rapidly degrading these ecosystems, putting cities and communities, water quality and livelihoods at risk. Using natural capital...

The livestock sector in Tanzania has had and continues to have a major role for the overall national development. Historically, it has been an important arena for the debate over the appropriate development the country should undertake. Ideas of ‘tradition’ and ‘modern’ livestock production system(s) continue to influence policy making processes wi...

Fisheries play an important role in meeting global food demands. But coastal fisheries are in decline due to overfishing – and fisheries management in developing world countries is also complicated by significant poverty levels. In response, fisheries managers are increasingly using economic incentive-based approaches to reward beneficiaries – such...

While policymakers juggle policy objectives, budgets and votes, protecting the environment rarely gets the same political traction as poverty reduction. But as the Sustainable Development Goals are introduced, governments will need to tackle both these issues simultaneously. This paper looks at ways to combine economic instruments that tackle both...

Mihir Kanti Majumder, Md Mokammel Hossain, Atiq Rahman, Belayet Hussein

Worldwide fish stocks are of enormous importance to the global economy, livelihoods and food security, contributing about US$274 billion to global gross domestic product per annum. Fishing is particularly important in developing countries, where over half of the world fish catch originates. But almost 29 per cent of fish stocks are now estimated to...

Bangladesh’s hilsa shad (Tenulosa ilisha) comprises the largest single-species fishery in the country, constituting 11 per cent of the total catch and employing 2.5 million people directly or indirectly. Since 2003, following a sharp decline in catch figures, the hilsa fish has been the subject of a government conservation programme offering fisher...

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is a powerful economic tool that gives positive conditional incentives for the provision of additional ecosystem services over the status quo, which has been used widely in terrestrial conservation. Interest in the concept of marine PES has recently emerged, but the fluid, transboundary and often common pool na...

‘Inclusive green growth’ is no longer just a buzz term. It is shaping donor priorities, influencing national development plans and attracting investment. Yet inclusive green growth policies commonly promoted by international institutions make little, if any, reference to informal economies – which are expanding in all parts of the world in response...

Marine ecosystems support a diversity of living resources that sustain the livelihoods of millions of people. Fish trade provides an important source of revenue to service international debt, fund national governments, and pay for food imports for domestic consumption in many developing countries. But world fish stocks are running dangerously low....

Marine and coastal resources provide millions of people with their livelihoods, such as fishing and tourism, and a range of critical additional ‘ecosystem services’, from bio-diversity and culture to carbon storage and flood protection. Yet, across the world, these resources are fast-diminishing under the weight of pollution, land clearance, coasta...

The Hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha popularly known as 'Hilsa', is one of the most commercially important fish species in South Asian countries. The species is widely distributed from the Persian Gulf to Bay of Bengal and ascends into estuaries, rivers and brackish-water lagoons of the Indo-Pacific region. Recently, the availability of hilsa has drast...

Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) are a source of sustainable financing for long-term biodiversity conservation, in particular for protected areas management. Through a review of 12 case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Australasia, this research report provides a broad overview of how to create a CTF, describing its legal...

Studies in five countries reveal very variable views on key aspects of REDD+, such as preferences for types of community and individual commitment, and for cash versus in-kind payment. Factors such as gender, ethnicity and land tenure mean preferences vary both between and within communities. REDD+ policy and projects need to assess and consider th...

Natural ecosystems, including forest ecosystems, continue to be degraded or converted at an alarming rate. To complement or substitute regulatory approaches to ecosystem management, market-based instruments such as "payments for ecosystem services" (PES) have been introduced and are gaining popularity. One of the prominent PES schemes in the world...

Fisheries provide millions of people with a source of livelihood. Yet across the world, these resources are fast diminishing because of pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, natural disasters, and climate changes. Traditional approaches to halt this decline focus on regulating against destructive practices, but to little effect. A more effec...

he published literature leads the reader to expect polarization between conservation and development communities as to the relationship between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. A survey of over 1,000 conservation and development professionals does not, however, support this depiction. Indeed it reveals a surprising consensus of op...

Developing countries have collectively displayed relatively high growth rates in the last decade. Although large disparities still persist in standards of living, low and middle income countries averaged economic growth of 6.2% between 2000 and 2008, pulling 325 million people out of poverty (World Bank, 2010). Global growth has been accompanied by...

A socially acceptable environmental policy requires that rational policy decisions regarding resource allocation be based on an informed assessment of the preference of the public for different environmental quality improvement schemes. Conjoint analysis method was employed to assess the preference of the residents of Chiang Mai District in Norther...