Indigenous Bio-cultural Conservation, and blue justice

Across the world, numerous Indigenous communities are working to contribute to marine conservation by maintaining their ancestral relational values to nature in a rapidly changing world. This article reviews where they are around the world, their different approaches to marine resource management, and the challenges they face. While in some areas, marine Indigenous communities have tenure arrangements which allow them to develop plans to manage their seas and to conserve biodiversity; others are still campaigning for the tacit and/or formal recognition of their traditional customary systems, which would allow them more efficacious ways to manage their fisheries and traditional uses, whilst limiting impacts from sources including mining, port development, oil and gas, military activities, nuclear energy, aquaculture, sewage, and industrial migratory fisheries. Colonial history around the world has led to the loss of autonomy of Indigenous peoples and to their incorporation into nation states. However, there is an increasing recognition of their sovereign rights and while there are 200 nation states recognised, there are at least 2000 marine Indigenous communities with different types of rights around the world that yet need some form of recognition. By acknowledging Indigenous people’s attempts to contribute to marine conservation there is an opportunity for bio-cultural promotion for both ecological and cultural rights. Greater recognition of this network of marine Indigenous management can allow for greater support in monitoring the health of marine ecosystems and encouraging the protection or co-protection (in tandem with governments and/or NGOs). Such a move can improve the management of open or common access areas, developing participatory marine conservation planning and rights over project decision making, thus moving towards achieving blue justice.