UN Ocean Decade Indigenous and Local Knowledge Engagement
Our Role: Consultancy support to the UN Ocean Decade Coordination Unit.
About the Project:
The UN Ocean Decade Implementation Plan[1] established the importance of Indigenous and Local Peoples (IPLC) involvement in ocean science, and the vital contribution of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) to achieving the ‘ocean we want.’ The ocean is home to thousands of IPLC who, despite accounting for only 4% of the global population, continue to be critical stewards of the world’s biodiversity, including ocean and coastal species. Through intergenerational relationships, knowledge and experience accrued over millennia, they are the traditional caretakers of marine ecosystems relied on by communities globally.
All Decade Actions must articulate, where relevant, how their initiative “collaborate[s] with and engage[s] local and Indigenous knowledge holders” during the application for endorsement. However, in practice many Decade Actions struggle to know how best to do this, and even fewer Actions are Indigenous led.
Through this consultancy, the Decade is committed to providing support and mobilising the resources needed to ensure that Endorsement Criteria relating to ILK can be met equitably and substantively, and are leveraged to enhance IPLC leadership in ocean science.
[1] UNESCO-IOC (2021). The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) Implementation Plan. UNESCO, Paris (IOC Ocean Decade Series, 20.)
We are supporting the finalisation of the Indigenous and Local Knowledge Engagement Approach in collaboration with a senior consultant. Part of this work includes supporting the Approach’s implementation through facilitation of the ILK Reference Group, designing a training course and soliciting content, and pulling together a resource database.
About the UN Ocean Decade: On 5 December 2017, the United Nations proclaimed the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, to be held from 2021 to 2030 (‘the Ocean Decade’). The Ocean Decade, which started on 1 January 2020, will provide a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support actions to sustainably manage the ocean and contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular by amplifying and supporting Indigenous and Local Knowledge led initiatives. Coordination of the Ocean Decade is funded by a number of extrabudgetary funding sources.
Want to work together? Tamar Coastal Lab has almost a decade of experience in coastal and community resilience projects. Can we help you with a project through consultancy services, partnership, collaboration, or something else?
