Title: Report of FAO Expert Workshop on Assessing the Contribution of Small-Scale Aquaculture to Sustainable Rural Development
Description: The FAO Expert Workshop on Indicators for Assessing the Contribution of Small-Scale Aquaculture (SSA) to Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), held from 6 to 8 August 2009, in Tagaytay City, the Philippines, and participated by a total of twenty-three experts, was convened to achieve the following: (i) present the outcomes (results and analysis) of the case studies which pilot-tested the Nha Trang SSA contribution indicators using various types of SSA in the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam; (ii) present the cross-country analysis and synthesis based on the outcomes of the pilot tests; (iii) refine and validate the indicators and evaluate their robustness, replicability and applicability in helping measure SSA sector performance for wider adoption and (iv) draw up a list of recommendations to further support (e.g.^

appropriate interventions, priority setting and resource allocation) to the SSA sub-sector of sustainable aquaculture and rural development programmes based on a broad understanding of sector performance (as measured by indicators) as well as risks and threats. The expert workshop carefully looked at each of the 14 Nha Trang SSA indicators and its applicability to the wide spectrum of SSA systems, based on the outcomes of the three country pilot tests covering seven SSA types, and the cross-country analysis/regional synthesis. The expert workshop brought forward a number of issues/concerns with respect to methodology, direct attribution to SRD, source of data and constraints in data collection. Recommendations were provided on which of the 14 Nha Trang indicators need further refining, merging, and/or deleting from the list, additional indicators as well as some aspects of the methodology used.^

A number of general recommendations was drawn for follow-up work in terms of SSA systems and scaling up, special research topics/studies including a number of issues of wider concern, e.g., biosecurity and food safety, natural disasters and risks, statistical considerations, indicators for assessing impacts of SSA to the environment and biodiversity and networking.
Subjects: Aquaculture, Congresses, Sustainable fisheries