Improving governance in fisheries and fish farming in the Bolivian Amazon basin

​Rural and peri-urban areas of the Bolivian Amazon basin are known for high levels of food insecurity and poverty.  But the high nutritional value of Amazon fish can make a significant contribution to food security and the local economy. In 2011, a team of Bolivian and Canadian experts, supported by fishers and fish farmers, launched the Peces para la Vida (“Fish for Life”) project.

Using an innovative approach based on action research that brought together all the stakeholders involved in the fish value chains, the project has contributed to new policies on fisheries and agriculture that are now under review by the government. Lessons learned from national and local experiences have forged a strong foundation from which fishers and fish farmers are now successfully influencing policy development; in the short and medium term, this will define the contribution of fish production to food security and food sovereignty for Bolivians.

Read the story of change: Improving governance in fisheries and fish farming in the Bolivian Amazon basin (PDF, 384 KB).

Mejorando la gobernanza en la pesca y piscicultura en la Cuenca Amazónica boliviana (Spanish PDF, 358 KB)

This document is part of the Stories of Change series that shares some of the emerging outcomes from research supported in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, a program of Canada's International Development Research Centre, undertaken with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada.