SFU professor co-authors Blue Paper on sustainable ocean planning, centers Indigenous voices in high-level ocean governance

A recent Blue Paper, launched at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) in Colombia, highlights the essential role of Indigenous and local knowledges in ocean governance, and outlines the actions needed to achieve more wholistic ocean management.

Commissioned by The High Level Panel for A Sustainable Ocean Economy, this report provides both practical and policy-oriented pathways forward to achieving co-production of Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs) — wholistic frameworks for the sustainable management of 100% of oceans — with Indigenous knowledge holders.

Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, an assistant professor in SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management and director of the Ocean Equity Lab, was one of 21 expert co-authors. The interdisciplinary team included Indigenous knowledge holders, academics, filmmakers and more from around the world.

This report outlines four key steps to collaboration that support an inclusive, place-based and knowledge-based sustainable ocean planning process; recognize and value plurality of knowledge systems, prioritize equitable and accessible ocean data and knowledge systems, and fund Indigenous and traditional-led ocean research and planning.

The actions presented in the report are intended to bring together widely applicable ocean equity principles, while also addressing needs that are specific to Indigenous peoples.

Cisneros-Montemayor notes that this report advocates for a shift away from extractive ocean governance processes to one that would see benefits for both oceans and communities.

“Co-producing these plans means that we are not stating problems or suggesting solutions for others but with others, and doing it meaningfully starts by making sure that it is historically excluded people that lead. Otherwise, it’s still the same people and plans that haven’t worked,” he says.

While past Blue Papers have included topics of ocean equity, the role of Indigenous peoples hasn’t been addressed until now.

“This report changes that,” he says. “We obviously need to really step up actions to make sure we don’t continue to harm the oceans and the people that depend on them, and acknowledging Indigenous goals and leadership in these efforts is very overdue.”

“Indigenous Peoples have been maintaining their historical relationships with oceans even as they fully engage with new sectors, new technologies and new challenges,” he says. “They have been collectively excluded from decisions over the ocean economy, and this is one more step to try and change that, starting with centering their own voices in these kinds of high-level efforts.”