Driving ocean science forward: Exploring capacity building's role in fostering an inclusive and influential ocean science community
Article: The Heart of Ocean Science: Empowering Local Communities
Welcome aboard to our new 'Ocean Science Chronicles: In Action' series, where we celebrate victories and narratives of change from our network of endorsed Decade Actions.
Do you know what it takes to tackle climate change, promote sustainable food production, and foster economic growth while keeping our oceans in pristine health? It takes brains, it takes passion, and it takes a global village of ocean champions. In this piece, we'll dive into how the Ocean Decade is turbocharging local communities across the Pacific to drive change.
The Ocean Decade Capacity Development Facility — your roadmap to unlocking ocean potential
The Ocean Decade Capacity Development Facility is our GPS to a more sustainable ocean future. With a vision of uniting all stakeholders involved in capacity development, it maps the course for Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, and Early Career Ocean Professionals.
Wrap your head around this: This facility is here to help coordination, collaboration, and knowledge exchange flourish, making sure that every community, every person—no matter where they reside or their place in the ocean career journey—feels empowered to contribute to the ocean's conservation and security.
At the helm of ocean transformation: Pacific islanders
Throughout the Pacific, often hidden pearls of wisdom, the region's ocean-faring and ocean-dependent communities, nurture deep, generational knowledge about the ocean. Let's get inspired by a few local legends.
The Babanakira people in the Solomon Islands? They've got an Indigenous early warning system based on natural signs, which they collectively use to predict storms. On the Torres Islands, they cultivate crop diversity and knowledge of land use—key tactics that help them adapt to seismic events. And in Hawaiʻi, the 600-year-old fishponds restored by Native Hawaiians are a beacon for sustainable food production that preserves ecosystems.
Marrying cultures to protect our world's largest ecosystem
When traditional knowledge meets modern science, magic happens.
The Ocean Decade Programme Pacific Solutions to Save Our Ocean, led by the Pacific Community (SPC), seeks to address this need by integrating youth and traditional leaders into policymaking across the Pacific.
Our Pacific heros
Empowering traditional leaders to rule the ocean
September 2023 marked a monumental moment, as 14 representatives of ten island nations and territories—the Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu—convened at the Pacific Islands Conference on Ocean Science and Ocean Management (PICOSOM). The aim? To explore marine management and the ways traditional knowledge fits into it.
"Traditional knowledge runs deep across the Pacific, playing a pivotal role in the governance of our ocean. It's time we sat down, listened, and learned from each other," stated Aaron English, Knowledge Management and Engagement Officer at SPC.
"By joining forces, traditional leaders and scientists in the region can generate a mutual understanding based on respect and shared knowledge. It's exciting to see the change we can create by blending the latest climate and ocean projections with the wisdom of traditional practices," he continued.
From stories to policies: preserving and utilizing traditional knowledge in community-led marine management
In the Pacific, knowledge has been inherently passed down through generations by storytelling, songs, ceremonies, and experiences. Unfortunately, this oral tradition is often fragile, as knowledge is not always recorded.
The Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science (PCCOS) and the Pacific Data Hub (PDH) at SPC ensure tradition-rich knowledge continues to thrive by gathering, documenting, and safeguarding it.
"Over the past few years, we've dedicated ourselves to mapping publicly available ocean knowledge. Using Obsidian Vault, we've organized all the knowledge we've collected to help visualize and comprehend the connectivity of Pacific cultures and traditional knowledge across the region," explains Hans Wendt, Integrated Ocean Management Adviser at SPC.
Let's unite for a brighter ocean future
The ripple effect of local communities working together to embrace and apply traditional knowledge can't be understated. It not only ensures the preservation of heritage but also strengthens institutions and fosters responsive, inclusive policies.
By 2030, the initiative aims to equip decision-makers, traditional leaders, and local communities across the region with the tools they need to protect, manage, and use marine ecosystems sustainably.
The Ocean Decade will continue to empower local communities driving change, while investing in the Early Career Ocean Professionals who will take the torch from the old guard in years to come.
And remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Ocean Decade has much more in store for communities across the globe. Stay tuned, and together, let's chart a course for a sustainable future.
For more information about the Ocean Decade, shoot us an email at our [email protected]
Background InformationAbout the Ocean Decade:The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (Ocean Decade) seeks to harness scientific knowledge and collaboration to reverse the decline of the ocean's health and create new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is 'the science we need for the ocean we want.' The Ocean Decade provides a framework for partners from diverse sectors to collaborate, develop the scientific knowledge necessary, and deliver science-based solutions for a better future. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.
About the UNESCO-IOC:The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC) fosters international cooperation in marine sciences to improve the management of the ocean, coasts, and marine resources. The IOC enables its 151 Member States to work together by coordinating programs in capacity development, ocean observations and services, ocean science, and tsunami warning. The work of the IOC contributes to UNESCO's mission to promote the advancement of science, knowledge, and skills, key to economic and social progress, peace, and sustainable development.
- In the spirit of empowering local communities to drive change, the Ocean Decade Programme Pacific Solutions to Save Our Ocean encourages the integration of youth and traditional leaders in policymaking across the Pacific, merging traditional knowledge with modern science for the protection of our world's largest ecosystem.
- To safeguard tradition-rich knowledge and ensure its continuity, organizations such as the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science (PCCOS) and the Pacific Data Hub (PDH) at SPC gather, document, and preserve the oral tradition that has been inherently passed down through generations by storytelling, songs, ceremonies, and experiences in the Pacific region.
