59 A Traditional Custodian Perspective
The following information is has been reproduced directly from Fischer et al. 2021: Empowering her guardians to nurture our Ocean’s future. The paper was written by First Nations Peoples and gives a voice on the importance of learning from Traditional Owners and their thousands of years of knowledge and having them in a leading role in Country management.
A Traditional Custodian Perspective – Empowering her guardians to nurture our Ocean’s future
For many Indigenous and Traditional Peoples, we come from the lands, waterways, and seas, and as such the stewardship for maintaining a healthy country is synonymous with maintaining our own health (Ganesharajah 2009; Jarvis 2019; Kingsley et al. 2013). Management structure is often through informa cesses, tied to individual and community customary rights, ceremonies, songs, taboos, and totems which result in ‘restrictions’ in marine resource use between clan groups, and serve to achieve sustainability of the shared resources. Whilst these long successful and sustainable stewardship practices are deeply important and have strong cultural links to Indigenous and Traditional communities, they are marginalised and excluded in colonised management processes resulting in degraded marine and coastal environments. Many communities are striving to continue their stewardship over their homelands and waters by partnering with broader management entities (Ban and Frid 2018; Ban et al. 2008; Diggon et al. 2019; Nursey-Bray and Jacobson 2014; Ross et al. 2009).
Image Text Version
Figure 1. Comparisons of Indigenous and Western Worldviews.
Figure 1 is entitled ‘Comparisons of Indigenous and Western Worldviews’. The figure shows two overlapping circles in a Venn Diagram. The circle on the left is entitled ‘Indigenous’, the circle on the right is entitled ‘Western’, and the segment of overlap between the two circles describes a point of commonality. Contents of each circle and overlap segment are described below:
Indigenous Cirlce
- holistic, community practical application
- belief system/spirituality linked
- oral knowledge system
- specific local context
- connected to life, values and personal/multigenerational
- communication important
- long time frame
- all life has value
- behaviour
- cyclical
Western Circle
- compartmentalised
- structured
- linear
- reductionist
- written system
- religion no longer linked
- exploitative
- euro-western culture based
- elitist
- global
- human centric
- impersonal
Overlap Segment
- patterns
- observations
- seek understanding
- explain complex systems
- repetition
- earth cycles
- change over time
- experiments
End Image Text Version
Indigenous and Traditional Peoples have known the need to live a harmonious lifestyle since the beginning of time, yet it is only now that we are being empowered to have a say in western governance systems and against the consumerist system that we have been dragged into. The myriad of climate change predictions has already begun impacting on Indigenous and Traditional Peoples’ lifestyles, including our culture (Mustonen et al. 2021, this issue). Therefore, listening to how Indigenous and Traditional Peoples can be part of the solution is one step towards tackling many mitigation and adaptation questions. Eero Murtoma¨ki from Finland has defined this difference as one of harmony (natural system) and chaos (imposed colonial rule over nature).
A future scenario—more sustainable 2030
The desired future of the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples within our team is one of self-governance, cultural respect and recognition for their continued sustainability efforts and knowledge. A future where traditional knowledge is recognised, and Indigenous and Traditional People can provide a service to the wider community that enables the nurturing and protection of our ancestral lands, seas and skies for future generations.
Thompson et al. (2020) found that when Indigenous peoples are in leadership positions, the outcomes are very different than when they are managed by an external group. There is a push away from integration, towards co-management and indigenous-led approaches (Fisher and Parsons 2020). These are steps in the direction of sovereignty and self-governance over natural resources.
Recommendation
Although beginning to be widely accepted in environmental sciences, traditional knowledge has deep cultural connections and should not be taken out of hands of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples.
The time is coming for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples to not only be respected for their knowledge and for an equal seat at the table, but also to be handed over power to be able to make decisions over their coastal and ocean spaces.
As members of Indigenous and Traditional communities we offer five recommendations moving forward and beyond current Business as Usual approaches. These range from actions by individual researchers to systematic changes to address ocean threats and empower Indigenous and Traditional Peoples in ocean planning and management.
- Become more self-aware of Indigenous issues, as scientists and practitioners in ocean and coastal science/management, and challenge processes, structures and strategies that do not include Indigenous and Traditional Peoples’ voices.
- Question yourself, your position and your projects, do they require Indigenous and Traditional Peoples engagement and if so, are you the right person to be leading this research question?
- Widen your worldview, our ancestors have not survived previous climate change events without learning and passing down relevant knowledge, it is real knowledge, do not force someone to legitimise it.
- Engage communities in addressing climate change issues in whatever ways they can contribute. Climate change is having and will have real impacts to our communities, which will not only force movements and changes to livelihoods, it will also have drastic influence over entire cultures. The current systems of power are limiting their involvement and change has to start somewhere.
- Actively develop partnerships in integrated ocean management and promote Indigenous and Traditional control and management of MPAs and marine developments. For example, in this era of climate change and adaptation, advancement of Indigenous management of protected areas would be a modest step towards achieving biodiversity targets for protection of marine and coastal areas (Aichi Target 11) whilst empowering local communities and mobilising Indigenous and Traditional Peoples knowledge (see e.g. Ward et al. 2020, this issue).
As guardians of our oceans and coastal environments we have an intrinsic connection to the needs of our Mother through our cultural practices and knowledge. We have been able to adapt to her changes over generations, it is important therefore, now more than ever, to listen and include our knowledge if we are to achieve any sort of sustainable future.
The text, image and it’s associated caption are from “Empowering her guardians to nurture our Ocean’s future” by Mibu Fischer, Kimberley Maxwell, Nuunoq, Halfdan Pedersen, Dean Greeno, Nang Jingwas, Jamie Graham Blair, Sutej Hugu, Tero Mustonen, Eero Murtomäki, and Kaisu Mustonen, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0, except for the introductory paragraph and some small text edits, which has been added by Trish Corbett.
Example: Let’s Be The Guardians Our Ocean Needs Us To Be. | Maureen Penjueli | TEDxSuva
Watch the video below to see a fantastic example of Traditional Owners as taking back guardianship their Sea Country.
Further Reading and Viewing
To learn more about empowerment of Traditional Owners as managers of the ocean, read observations and case studies provided in Fischer et al. 2021: Empowering her guardians to nurture our Ocean’s future. To hear more from Mibu Fisher, a marine ethnoecologist with CSIRO who was the first author of the paper listed above, watch the video below.
References
Ban, N. C., & Frid, A. (2018). Indigenous peoples’ rights and marine protected areas. Marine Policy, 87, 180-185.
Ban, N. C., Picard, C., & Vincent, A. C. (2008). Moving toward spatial solutions in marine conservation with indigenous communities. Ecology and Society, 13(1).
Diggon, S., Butler, C., Heidt, A., Bones, J., Jones, R., & Outhet, C. (2021). The marine plan partnership: Indigenous community-based marine spatial planning. Marine Policy, 132, 103510.
Fisher, K., & Parsons, M. (2020). River co-governance and co-management in Aotearoa New Zealand: Enabling indigenous ways of knowing and being. Transnational Environmental Law, 9(3), 455-480.
Ganesharajah, C. (2009). Indigenous health and wellbeing: The importance of country.
Kingsley, J., Townsend, M., Henderson-Wilson, C., & Bolam, B. (2013). Developing an exploratory framework linking Australian Aboriginal peoples’ connection to country and concepts of wellbeing. International journal of environmental research and public health, 10(2), 678-698.
Mustonen, T., Maxwell, K. H., Mustonen, K., Jones, R., Pedersen, H., Nuunoq, … & Murtomäki, E. (2022). Who is the ocean? Preface to the future seas 2030 special issue. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 32(1), 9-16.
Nursey-Bray, M., & Jacobson, C. (2014). ‘Which way?’: The contribution of Indigenous marine governance. Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs, 6(1), 27-40.
Ross, H., Grant, C., Robinson, C. J., Izurieta, A., Smyth, D., & Rist, P. (2009). Co-management and Indigenous protected areas in Australia: achievements and ways forward. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 16(4), 242-252.
Thompson, K. L., Lantz, T., & Ban, N. C. (2020). A review of Indigenous knowledge and participation in environmental monitoring. Ecology and Society, 25(2), 10.
