While Indigenous people and local communities have long been ignored or marginalized in ocean governance processes, those very groups have invaluable knowledge about the coastal and marine environments in their back yards.
To address this gap, the Marine Spatial Planning Global Initiative set up by UNESCO and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission has produced two publications — one to illustrate basic concepts (volume 1) and a second on good practices for engaging IPLCs and embracing indigenous and local knowledge in MSP (volume 2).
According to the MSP Global Initiative:
“The aim is to enhance the knowledge, skills and capacity of policymakers and MSP practitioners in order to develop inclusive, equitable and just MSP. It also encourages co-management practices between governments and IPLCs at the local level and advocates for the development of MSP initiatives led by rights-holders, especially in areas where marine planning takes place within ancestral territories.”
You can check out the first and second report at unesco.org.
