Traditional & Indigenous Knowledge for Decolonizing Environmental Stewardship

Objective

The proposed project addresses urgent challenges in the governance of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (BCEs), mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes, which are vital for climate mitigation, biodiversity, and coastal livelihoods but face accelerating degradation from aquaculture, pollution, and climate. While ecological monitoring and economic valuation of BCEs are well developed, current frameworks overlook Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK), relational values, and justice dimensions, limiting the legitimacy and effectiveness of conservation strategies. The fellowship aims to develop justice-oriented governance frameworks that integrate ecological diagnostics, ecosystem service valuation, and ILK, while linking community-derived valuations to blue finance mechanisms such as carbon credits and Payments for Ecosystem Services. Two contrasting but complementary case studies, Galicia (Spain), with its cofradías and mariscadoras, and Wakatobi (Indonesia), home to Indigenous Bajo communities, provide the basis for comparative insights across the Global North and South. The project will proceed in four stages: (1) mapping ecosystem change and stressors using remote sensing, UAVs, and ground-truthing; (2) quantifying ecosystem services and integrating community preferences through ecological models, surveys, and multi-criteria decision tools; (3) documenting ILK through oral histories, participatory mapping, and gendered knowledge practices; and (4) synthesizing findings through participatory workshops to produce multilingual policy briefs and transferable governance toolkits. The project will advance the objectives of the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by aligning ecological, economic, and cultural perspectives. It will deliver scalable pathways for more resilient, equitable, and sustainable stewardship of coastal ecosystems, as EU-funded research addresses global climate and justice challenges.