Empowering her guardians to nurture our oceans future

Abstract

Coastal Indigenous and Traditional Peoples communities are starting to see changes to their lives from climate change, whether this is from species range change or displacement from land changes. For many of these communities the ability to adequately adapt to these changes is limited by the governance structures they are required to live within, which differ from their customary practices and culture. A group of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples attended the Future Seas 2030 workshop in November 2019 and discussed the consequences of climate change along with the biggest barriers for their communities to contribute towards more sustainable future using traditional knowledge that will benefit all of earth's people. The aim of this was to highlight and give voice to the various backgrounds and real-life situations impacting on some of the world's Indigenous and Traditional Peoples whose connection with the oceans and coasts have been disrupted. The paper raises issues of oppression, colonisation, language and agency on why it has been difficult for these groups to contribute to the current management of oceans and coasts, and asks scientists and practitioners in this space to become allies to enable the needed shift for earth's guardians to take a leading role in nurturing her for our future.