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Book reviews

the recent achievements of Brazil, an optimistic mood brightens up the future of the REDD.

n Elena-Rossello and Santiago Saura Ramo

Escuela de Ingenieria Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad cnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain Polite ramon.elena.rossello@upm.es doi:10.1093/erae/jbr017 Advance Access Publication 12 May 2011

Anja von Moltke (ed.)

Fisheries Subsidies, Sustainable Development and the WTO
Earthscan, Oxford, UK, 2010. ISBN: 978-1-84971-135-7, 480 pages, Price: 85.00 (hardback)

Earlier this year, Anja von Moltke, as Editor, and his publisher, Earthscan, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), released the book Fisheries Subsidies, Sustainable Development and the WTO. The book is actually a compilation of a long work developed by UNEP in the last 10 years about the complex relation between subsidies and sustainability in the sheries activity. At present, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is developing a large discussion about the national subsidies in sheries. The WTO is trying to evaluate the distortion produced by the subsidies on the international trade. On this question, well-known arguments and counter-arguments have been produced in the last 20 years. This discussion is being developed also in forums such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), inspired by the debate that took place in the recent past on the subject of agricultural subsidies. This discussion made it clear that in some cases the agricultural subsidies have negative effects on consumers, foster inequality of revenues or generate agricultural surpluses in some products. Of course, not all this is solved following the simplistic motto all subventions are bad, which reduces every solution to the removal of any national intervention. In my opinion, the present economic crisis introduces some additional questions in the controversies over the role of the national administrations and demands a new, more complex approach than that assumed in the past. In this line it is perhaps necessary to consider new aspects, such as food security, the role of small peasants, the role of large food-processing corporations, the real access to the international markets, the access to the credit or the manipulation of prices (that not only can be forced by national administrations, but also by private corporations). But the problem of subsidies in the case of sheries has some additional complications, beyond the simple transposition of discussions that take

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place in the agricultural sector. On the one hand, the shing activity is partially developed in international areas or over transmigratory species, as the action of one country can have impacts over others. On the other hand, the shing activity has a signicant and direct effect over a renewable resource and the whole marine environment. It is at this level where the UNEP activity becomes particularly relevant and where the work coordinated by Anja von Moltke represents an important contribution. The book offers a conceptual review of the intellectual tools developed in recent years to address the subsidies in the sheries sector, followed by a concrete analysis of some particular cases (Norway, Ecuador, Senegal), which illustrates the complexity of the subsidies effect on the sheries. The last three chapters of the book are devoted to the consideration of the process of discussion on subsidies in the framework of WTO. They describe the institutional development of the issue and end with a well-structured conclusion, including some suggestions that may help to improve the treatment of subsidies in the WTO. This is a logical corollary, since it is the place where international agreements can be established effectively. In the conclusive part, the book presents a list of the challenges still to be addressed. The analysis of these challenges shows that, in order to ensure a rational use of shery resources, a large number of elements, beyond the current reductionist view, should be taken into account to address the issue of subsidies. The problem of management of the shing activity appears as a key issue to assure the sustainability of the shing resources. In a broad sense, the question of management includes aspects such as transparency, equity, coherence, stakeholders participation, etc. To assure the correct and effective inclusion of these factors, the role of the national administrations cannot be ignored. The contribution of this publication is highly relevant for politicians, managers, shermen and consumers. It should be regarded more as a wide collection of state-of-the-art considerations, than as a guide to resolving the problem of sheries management in any situation. It is important to remember that, without the subsidies, some very important problems remain unsolved. Among these, potentially very destabilising issues are the pressure of poverty on the biological balance, the problem of ownership and the use of income from shery activities and the problem of food security (which includes addressing the dilemma between the use of sh for aquaculture and livestock feeding, or for human consumption). In some cases, in my opinion, these problems demand a much larger approach than just the allocation of subsidies, including perhaps a proactive government action in the sheries area. Unfortunately, we have not a talisman that could easily solve all the problems of the sector. Some questions remain open. In particular, it is important not to forget that, in some situations, the public intervention, including nancial compensations for ship withdrawals, the improvement of the control of abuses or a higher research level, can help recover the health of the resources. It is necessary to remember that the present situation demands a prompt, comprehensive and steady public intervention to assure the future of food production from oceans, as well as

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the social stability of coastal communities, which is especially important in the present crisis context. It is true, as clearly shown by the work under consideration, that many of the administrative interventions can have and have, in fact, harmful effects. One of the most important elements that can be gleaned from the reading of this work is the extreme ease with which the shing companies are successful in changing the objectives pursued by public managers. The public subsidies often have effects opposite to those pursued. This is a reality that cannot be ignored any longer. Indeed, as shermen often nd ways to avoid the checks and inspections, they try also to turn any public nancing measure in their own short-term benet, although this can have adverse effects on the sustainability of the resources. It is therefore very important that any administration, especially if its role involves direct or indirect nancial transfers to individuals, be rst rigorously scrutinised. Any nancial measure that is addressed to the shing sector should, in particular, be deeply scrutinised with the aim of ensuring that it meets the objectives which justify its intervention, and assure in their development the existence of adequate control mechanisms to prevent unwanted effects. The book includes an interesting compact disc (CD) with a very complete documental annex that contains more than a hundred essential articles and documents published by UNEP itself, other international organisations such as the OECD, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the WTO, non-governmental organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature, and different regional sheries organisations. The CD is an actualised compilation of the essential literature on the problem of the subsidies in sheries. There are many reasons to think that this book can provide the public with a full presentation of the WTO discussions on sheries subsidies. And it helps to understand what shall most likely be the agreements in this area in the near future. From a functional point of view, it can make it possible to foresee, in the area of domestic subsidies, which ones would be acceptable and which not within the framework of the WTO rules. I think that anyone who reads Subsidies to Fisheries, Sustainable Development and the WTO, and whatever his or her opinion on the role of subsidies on sustainability and the development of sheries, he or she can nd in it useful information and criteria to help decide in each particular situation. It can contribute to avoid the temptation to use, in a not reexive way under the pressure of the lobbies, the economic resources necessary to solve the complex problems faced by the sheries sector.

Ramon Franquesa
University of Barcelona, Spain ramon@gemub.com doi:10.1093/erae/jbr018 Advance Access Publication 17 May 2011

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