The journey to an inclusive UN Decade of Ocean Science
The futures and action pathway developed here were drawn from a western
scientific and cultural view of the world. To ensure the UN Decade of
Ocean Science “provide[s] a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity
for nations to work together to generate the global ocean science needed
to support the sustainable development of our shared ocean ” (p.2, IOC
2019), it is essential to increase the breadth of voices included in the
creation of any vision of a sustainable future. An important gap that
needs to be forged is acknowledging and integrating the perspectives and
knowledge systems of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge Holders.
Traditional knowledge holders have the potential to provide invaluable
and often overlooked perspectives on the feedbacks between ocean and
human health due to their intimate cultural ties to land and sea,
enriching any narrative of the future. For example:
“Traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace practices are
under a direct and measurable climate threat which is not only an
ecological and cultural disaster but one that at the very least affects
Aboriginal people in mental health and economic terms and at worst in
some extreme cases destroys their ability to connect to ‘Sea/ Marine
country.” Dean Greeno, Palawa Man
In this quote Dean demonstrates the strong link between ocean health
(that is threatened for instance by climate impacts) and the physical
connection, family interactions, and mental wellbeing (through the
activity or necklace making) of Australian Aboriginal people. As a
result, we present our paper as just the start of a discussion - a
jumping off point for bringing together the diversity of views necessary
to envision a sustainable and equitable future.
Conclusions
After carefully considering the main drivers that shape our ocean and
human health interactions (worldviews, power and agency, human
development and industry, food systems, and lifestyle and connectedness)
it is clear that, using current knowledge, we can shape the next decade
to either end up in a ‘Command & (Out of) Control’ or ‘Living &
Connecting’ future. The latter of these should be our aspiration but
achieving it will require immediate action that is maintained throughout
the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
Even though in a ‘Command & (Out of) Control’ future (which is our
current trajectory if we continue along our Business-as-Usual approach)
we will attain some SDGs, these are far fewer than if we aim for the
more sustainable ‘Living & Connecting’. Notably SDGs 13 (Climate
Action), 14 (Life Below Water) or 15 (Life on Land) are unlikely to be
met by 2030 if Business-as-Usual prevails. We also contend that health
outcomes (SDG 3) are unlikely to be met in a ‘Command & (Out of)
Control’ future. If we choose to aim for the more sustainable ‘Living &
Connecting’ (and we suggest we should), we are likely to get better
outcomes for SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 9
(Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure) as well as SDGs 13 (Climate
Action), 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life on Land).
To steer us in the direction of ‘Living & Connecting’, we need to focus
on creating marine citizenship, achieving a more equitable distribution
of power, and greater and more equitable access to resources and
opportunities. In the short and medium term, we can start with creating
marine citizenship by implementing actions that improve science and
health communication initiatives and knowledge exchange strategies. This
provides a solid foundation for additional medium to longer term
actions, that require more lead time. These medium to long term actions
are aimed at guiding targeted behaviour change in individuals,
communities and business through incentives, and rules and regulations.
Government has an important role to play in enabling actions both in the
short and long term, however, industry, NGOs and the community at large
also need to take responsibility, and in many instances a concerted
effort is required by all parties working collaboratively. While in some
cases this would represent a fundamental shift in our approach to
achieving the SDGs (e.g. through new and improved partnerships between
science agencies and large private global corporations), and thus also
require large scale institutional reform to adequately facilitate such
changes, doing so will be critical for achieving improved outcomes for
both ocean and human health.