What role for local knowledge in ocean governance?

Abstract

Recent years have seen a significant reappraisal of ‘local knowledge’ and its value in science policy and global science governance. This type of knowledge, often interchangeably used with the term ‘traditional knowledge’, was already discussed and embedded in the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the ensuing Nagoya Protocol adopted in 2010 on Access to Genetic Resources and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their utilization. The Nagoya Protocol refers to “traditional knowledge” of “Indigenous and local communities”. In 2022, the Conference of the Parties of the CBD made a Decision adopting the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which importantly promotes coherence and cooperation across biodiversity and other relevant multilateral agreements4 engaging with what it terms as “best available data” and “traditional knowledge