In November and December of 2023, MSPglobal 2.0 organised dialogues on engaging Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and embracing Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in the implementation of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) activities. The online meetings were facilitated by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) alongside UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems programme (UNESCO-LINKS). A total of 35 indigenous and non-indigenous experts shared their input and opinions which will essentially build the foundation of a guiding publication focusing on good practices.
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) is a broad term that in the ocean talks includes a huge diversity of traditional coastal communities (indigenous, non-indigenous, and mixed groups), such as traditional owners, small-scale fishers, Afro-descendent communities in the Americas and the Caribbean, and more. Different IPLCs have different traditional management systems that need to be recognised by institutional marine policies such as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), blue economy, and others.
As the MSPglobal 2.0 initiative aims to expand and strengthen the pool of MSP practitioners and stakeholders worldwide, it is one of the project’s main focus areas to promote the engagement of IPLCs and the embracement of ILK in MSP processes. To this effect, with the support of UNESCO-LINKS, MSPglobal 2.0 will be publishing a guiding document focusing on good practices involving the engagement of IPLCs in MSP, which shall also serve as a starting point for further dialogues and collaborative efforts on this topic around the world. The document is expected to complement the MSPglobal Guide, thus informing mainly MSP practitioners but also other governmental authorities, communities, and stakeholders involved in MSP processes.
In an attempt to co-develop this new publication with a diverse group of IPLCs networks and practitioners, a series of dialogues were organised to collect input and opinions. To reach representatives from around the world, the dialogues were coordinated for different time zones: One group was mainly for Asia, the Pacific, and North America (western coast), and the second group was mainly for Africa, the Americas, and the Arctic. Among the participants were representatives of indigenous and small-scale fishers organisations, MSP and MPA initiatives involving IPLCs, as well as experts with experience in engaging IPLCs in marine policies, such as researchers, consultants, and policy-makers.
The dialogues were divided into two meetings for each group. During the first meeting, the participants shared their experience with the engagement of IPLCs in marine planning and management and then discussed challenges and good practices.
Based on the information gathered in this first session, an outline of good practices started to be drafted. The goal of the second meeting was to review these initial inputs alongside the participants as well as to formulate strategies about how to engage IPLCs and embrace ILK in the different phases of MSP.
All in all, the dialogues were very fruitful discussions, thus we thank all participants for their contribution and heart-felt passion for this topic. The publication on good practices for engaging Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and embracing Indigenous and Local Knowledge in MSP is in the making and will soon be made available.