ONE OCEAN HUB

Issue 5/2024 -

ONE OCEAN HUB

Newsletter

“More than the sum of its parts” - A brief reflection on the One Ocean Hub closing conference

“This is just the beginning.” The One Ocean Hub’s closing conference marked the ending of the first phase of our research, and a critical reflection point for our legacy and future. It took place from 20-24 May 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa, with approximately 100 participants from 14 countries from the Hub-wide network in attendance.

The week-long workshop set out to celebrate the achievements of the Hub’s five-year journey, reflecting on how the deep thinking during the formative stages of the Hub accounted for what was learnt and achieved, and collectively considered priorities for the Hub’s future engagements and legacy plans.

In this blogpost Hub Deputy Director, Philile Mbatha, explored how the dialogues and exchanges during the conference are informing the Hub’s next steps.

By Philile Mbatha,
Deputy Director, One Ocean Hub

Turning the tide

Ocean and children’s human rights at the Bonn Climate Conference

Are children’s rights and the ocean more central in the international climate change negotiations? For the fourth year in a row, the One Ocean Hub participated in the Bonn Climate Conference (3-13 June 2024). This blogpost reflects on the Hub’s contributions to the preparations of the first children’s dialogue at an international climate meeting, and discussions on the ocean-climate nexus in Bonn.

By Senia Febrica

Historic Opinion of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea clarifies State obligations at the ocean-climate nexus

States’ obligations on the ocean-climate nexus have significant human rights implications. The International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its much-awaited Advisory Opinion requested to clarify States’ obligations to protect the marine environment from climate change. This blog post collects relevant extracts from the first report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights, Hub Director Elisa Morgera, which reflects on the historic importance of the Opinion.

By Elisa Morgera

Transforming ocean-decision making through innovative solutions

Inter-species communication, climate-fishery-conservation scenarios, and community art and Indigenous cultural heritage can be critical components of inter-and trans-disciplinary research to advance science for fair and inclusive ocean-biodiversity conservation. One Ocean Hub researchers, Lynne Shannon (University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Stuart Jeffrey (The Glasgow School of Art, UK) shared their new and novel methods and research findings at the 3^rd World Biodiversity Forum in Davos, Switzerland, from 16-20 June 2024.

By Senia Febrica, Lynne Shannon, and Stuart Jeffrey

Raising awareness on climate priorities for Small Island Developing States

What does the ocean-climate nexus mean for SIDS and the human rights of their populations? The Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) under the overarching theme of “Charting the Course toward Resilient Prosperity” was held on 27 – 30 May 2024 in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda. This blog post highlights key points from the Written Statement submitted on behalf of One Ocean Hub and the Environmental Law, Ocean Governance and Climate Justice Unit, in the University of the West Indies’ Faculty of Law, in response to a Call for Written Inputs from Accredited NGOs and other stakeholder organisations.

By Alana Malinde S. N. Lancaster and Senia Febrica

MAKING WAVES

Women in small-scale fisheries: Peer-to-Peer Learning Workshop

Mutual learning with women in small-scale fisheries enhanced our understanding of how to make ocean research and governance more inclusive and transformative. From 11-13 June 2024, the One Ocean Hub convened a three-day workshop focused on ‘Women in Small-Scale Fisheries’ in Cape Coast, Ghana. This workshop centred on bringing together in person – for the first time – key knowledge holders from across the small-scale fishing communities that Hub researchers have been collaborating with in Ghana, Namibia, and South Africa. Focusing on women, whose voices continue to be underrepresented in both national and international discussions, this workshop centred on peer-to-peer sharing and knowledge exchange.

By Bola Erinosho, Martha Jonas, Alana Malinde S. N. Lancaster, Aphiwe Moshani, Mia Strand, Jackie Sunde, and David Wilson

Workshop on the role of human rights, ocean law and governance in securing an inclusive and sustainable ocean for Ghana

What is the role of judicial and law enforcement officers in supporting transformative ocean law and policy in Ghana? On 14 June 2024, the One Ocean Hub organised a one-day workshop on ‘the role of human rights, ocean law and governance in securing an inclusive and sustainable ocean for Ghana’ for judges and law enforcement officers from the Volta, Central, Western, and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana. The workshop explored opportunities in national and international human rights law for supporting small-scale fishers.

By Bolanle Erinosho

Hooked on Namibia: recreational angling, small-scale fisheries and the blue economy

Marine recreational fishing has been recognised for its importance in Namibia, with thousands of anglers visiting annually to pursue either rock-and-surf or ski-boat angling. The sector’s economic contribution is significant, likely in the region of N$1 billion annually. This piece argues that any future policy or legislative developments, however, must recognise the interlinkages with other angler groups at the coast, and that fisheries managers should carefully consider the basic interests of subsistence fishers, balanced against those of relatively more well-off resident and non-resident anglers.

By Usman Khan and Nina Rivers

Challenging “parachute science” in conservation

Multi-scalar conservation regimes, when parachuted into Global South contexts with complex colonial histories, can result in governability challenges. Hub Deputy Director, Philile Mbatha, was invited to speak at the seminar “Towards a More Inclusive Conservation Science.” The event was the last webinar of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) 2024 “Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Seminar Series: Beyond Inclusive Conservation.” Philile’s presentation focused on her research over ten years in a UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa.

By Philile Mbatha

How can you protect the ocean?

Public participation, meaningful consultation, and the recognition of cultural and spiritual heritage of the ocean are crucial to South Africa’s small-scale fishers and coastal communities. Having observed many consultation meetings and workshops around oil and gas in South Africa, Hub early-career researcher, Menka Vansant (University of Cape Town, South Africa) reflects in this blog post on the inclusion of local people who truly value the ocean for what it is: a living being that allows us to breathe, to thrive, and to eat. She concludes that genuine consultation remains absent in decision-making process.

By Menka Vansant

Reflecting on children’s rights and the right to a healthy environment

What are the intersections and opportunities for protecting children’s human rights and everyone’s right to a healthy environment, including a healthy ocean? Hub researchers Alana Malinde S. N. Lancaster (Environmental Law, Ocean Governance & Climate Justice Unit, University of the West Indies) and Elisa Morgera (University of Strathclyde) explored this question at an academic-practitioner workshop in Oñati, Spain, in April 2024.

Nothing Comes without its World: Shimmering stories of human and more-than-human kinship

What might reparative ocean conservation look and feel like? ‘Nothing Comes without its World’ is the title of an art exhibition curated by Hub researcher Dylan McGarry (Rhodes University, South Africa), drawing deeply from research and learnings with ocean communities. In this blog post, Dylan reflected on the ideas and inspiration behind the exhibition, particularly exploring how we might develop a multi-species ethics of care to support reparative ocean conservation.

By Dylan McGarry

Celebrating World Ocean Day with Children and Youth

To mark World Ocean Day on 8 June 2024, Hub Director Elisa Morgera participated in a webinar organised by the UNEP Faith for Earth Youth Council and the Child and Youth Major Group to UNEP. This youth-led event offered a space for guided discussion with youth ocean defenders and allied adult leaders working to support young people in ocean awareness and conversation. Young ocean actors shared their inspiring work, opportunities, and networks with the larger Faith for Earth Coalition and young people worldwide. They also shared their insights into the limitations of current international ocean governance fora in genuinely integrating children and youth, including at the Barcelona Conference of the UN Ocean Science Decade.

One Ocean Learn launches a new learning pathway focusing on small-scale fishers

In anticipation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Summit (SSF Summit) in Rome (5-7 July 2024), a new Learning Pathway, ‘Recognising the human rights of small-scale fishers’, has been launched on the open access knowledge-translation platform One Ocean Learn. The Learning Pathway explores the extent to which small-scale fishers’ rights have been recognised and protected to date, highlights the contributions and the knowledge of small-scale fishers’ communities, and examines how fishers in collaboration with various stakeholders can promote a healthy environment for all.

Youth Digital Art and the Ocean

A new art exhibition is now live on One Ocean Learn, showcasing youth digital art that explores anthropogenic threats to the ocean. The selection of artworks by young people presented here are collated from the ‘Go Deep Creative Challenge’ arts project organised by The Oxygen Project, Sustainable Ocean Alliance, and Peace Boat. The selected artworks send a powerful message highlighting the urgent ecological concerns around deep-sea mining and plastic pollution.

New book assesses how international law is supporting (and how it can better support) equity and sustainability

Hub Director Elisa Morgera has published a new, open-access monograph ‘Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing in International Law’ with Oxford University Press, assessing how and to what extent international law is supporting equity in environmental sustainability through the concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing at the intersection of international environmental law, international human rights law, and the law of the sea. The book builds upon an earlier, 5-year research project BENELEX (funded by the European Research Council) and insights from One Ocean Hub on fair and equitable benefit-sharing.

EARLY-CAREER RESEARCHERS

Spotlight on early-career researcher Geslaine Lemos Gonçalves

Q: What’s your greatest achievement since you started working for One Ocean Hub?

A: I am proud of the contributions made by our research group, the most important of which has been presenting the levels of plastic pollution in Ghana’s coastal environments, sandy beaches and mangroves. Our study identifies the most abundant types and sources of plastics in Ghana. We found that plastic litter, such as plastic bags and water containers, mostly originate from land sources. We also found a new source of microfibers in the Ghanaian environment that has not been described before – microfibres from synthetic hair. Another accomplishment for me was the workshops we organised at the University of Cape Coast for the students and the local fishing communities. We were able to share findings, knowledge and experience, as well as learn about the community’s culture and beliefs through these workshops. Being a Hub researcher has also enabled me to expand my network, improve my communication skills, and collaborate and establish friendships with researchers from Ghana.

Podcast: South Africa's small-scale fishers: Defending their rights to ancestral lands and fishing areas

A new special episode of the One Ocean Hub podcast dedicated to small-scale fishers has just been launched. Joined by Maria Honig, (Coastal Communities Lead, World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF), Milica Prokic (Knowledge Exchange Associate, One Ocean Hub) had the honour and the pleasure to meet and discuss with five small-scale fisher representatives from South Africa: Hilda Adams, Bradley Warner, Randall Bentley, Jerry Mngomezulu, and John Peter Narayansamy. The fishers discuss their struggles to defend their fishing tenure rights, access to their ancestral fishing areas, and the current challenges they face stemming from the violent legacies of apartheid. They also spoke about their tireless work on resisting and tackling these challenges and the role of programmes and organisations such as the One Ocean Hub and WWF to help fishers to fully realise their human rights.

By Milica Prokic

Hub researchers contributed to the UN Decade course on co-design

Equal partnerships in co-design with non -academic collaborators are essential to embrace various ways of knowing, and address asymmetrical power relations in knowledge co-production. In May 2024, the UN launched a new, freely accessible, online training course on ‘Co-design for the Ocean Decade’, as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (‘Ocean Decade’). One Ocean Hub contributed to content development for the course, with inputs from Hub researchers, Mia Strand (Nelson Mandela University, University of Strathclyde & Ocean Nexus, South Africa) and Bernadette Snow (Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK).

By Senia Febrica and Mia Strand

Early-career researchers Coffee Table Book

Early-career researchers (ECRs) have been a driving force in promoting the One Ocean Hub’s inter-and-transdisciplinarity research. The ECRs team brings together expertise from different disciplines (e.g. biology, sociology, law, art) and varying career stages (Master, PhD and Post-doctoral). Learn more about ECRs’ expertise and the impacts generated from their research in our new ECRs “coffee-table e-book” that was launched on the UN World Oceans Day on 7 June 2024. The Hub’s ECRs team consists of 37 researchers based in Barbados, Fiji, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, as well as Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

See here >>

PUBLICATIONS

Transformative ocean governance: Publication authored by Jeremy M. Hills, and Payal N. Maharaj (2024) in Elgar Encyclopedia of Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity. Frédéric Darbellay (Ed.).

Read publication here >>

Fair and equitable benefit-sharing in international law: Publication authored by Elisa Morgera (2024) in Oxford: Oxford University Press. open access

Read publication here >>

POLICY BRIEFS & RESOURCES

Introducing a unique, inspirational web platform connecting knowledges on the ocean – meet One Ocean Learn!” Resource authored by Sarah Cummings, Elisa Morgera, Josefina Ashipala, and Angus Mackay (24 June 2024)

Read article here >>

Climate risk and adaptation for fisheries in Namibia One Ocean Hub. Report authored by Hyder, K., Wilhelm, M., Kanyimba, A., Bova, C., Gusha, M.N., Harrod, O.L, Kadhila, T., Khan, U., Kreiner, A., Nghipangelwa, S., Olwage, E., Pinnegar, J.K., Potts, W., Rivers, N., Shakalela, E., Snow, B., Tshiningayamwe, S., Unengu, U., Veii, A., Warikandwa, T., Engelhard, G.H. (2024) Climate adaptation for fisheries in South Africa. One Ocean Hub Report, 4 pp.

Read report here >>

Climate adaptation for fisheries in South Africa. Report authored by Hyder K., Sowman, M., Cink, K, Fernandes, M., Gammage, L., Ortega Cisneros, K., Mbatha, P., Potts, W., Rivers, N., Sauer, W., Shannon, L., Snow, B., Townhill, B.L., van Maltitz, G., Pinnegar, J.K. (2024) One Ocean Hub Report, 4 pp.

Read report here >>

Report: Economic value of marine recreational fishery in Namibia Khan, U. (2024)

Read report here >>

Ocean defenders are environmental human rights defenders Authored by Elisa Morgera (20 May 2024) in GC Human Rights Preparedness

Read article here >>

Can human rights lawyers and legal academics support human rights defenders in new ways? Authored by Elaine Webster (27 May 2024) in GC Human Rights Preparedness

Read article here >>

UPCOMING EVENTS

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and the Law of the Sea: Impacts on Youth Climate Justice, International Law, and Human Rights – online (17 July 2024)
Webinar “Perspectives on Advisory Opinion Proceedings on Climate Emergency at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice. OCEANS AND HUMAN RIGHTS” (31 July 2024 )
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (21 October – 1 November 2024)

SEE EVENT DETAILS HERE >>

MAKING HEADLINES

What’s on in Cape Town, “Tech Meets Ocean Conservation for ‘Nothing Comes without its World’ Exhibition at Cloudigital Art,”

“‘Nothing Comes without its World’ is Cloudigital Art’s first exhibition that brings art, technology, and philanthropy together while opening an inclusive conversation around ocean conservation in South Africa.” Hub researcher, curator, and contributing artist Dylan McGarry explains the inspiration behind the exhibition: “What I aimed to explore in this exhibition as a curator is to collaborate and engage with and re-imagine the human/justice shapes of the big questions about conservation, and to do this with other animals, and other ways of knowing and being.”

Hear more about the exhibition in the podcast: ‘Lunch with Pippa Hudson: Ocean-conservation art exhibition opens in Cape Town’ here >>

Other media coverage of ‘Nothing Comes without its World’ can be found below:

V&A Solve, “Let us mesmerise you,” 17 April 2024, available here >>
Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, “One Blue Heart beats for our turtles,” 24 April 2024, available here >>
Cape {town} etc, “Art exhibition explores inclusive justice within ocean conservation,” 4 June 2024, available here >>

Available from here >>

Joy News, “Women empowerment: One Ocean Hub trains and sensitizes women in decision-making processes,”

The “One Ocean Hub organised a three-day workshop to train and sensitise women from small-scale fisher communities on various decision-making processes. The One Ocean Hub Country Director in Ghana said that the event was aimed to empower fisher women who often have been marginalised in decision-making processes…The workshop brought together participants from Ghana, Namibia and South Africa to share ideas and challenges faced by women in the fishing industries.”

Watch here >>

Joy News, “Maritime law: One Ocean Hub organises a workshop for judges and other legal practitioners in Cape Coast,”

The “One Ocean Hub organised a workshop for judges and other legal practitioners in Cape Coast, Ghana, on 14 June 2024. The workshop was designed to further develop the capacity of judges and human rights advocates in human rights issues affecting small-scale fisher communities in Ghana. The workshop was held for legal and judicial officials on ocean law and governance…[who] are very important for the enforcement of ocean law and together represent a critical mass for the development of marine sector.”

Watch here >>

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One Ocean Hub is an independent programme for collaborative research for development, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). GCRF is a key component in delivering the UK AID strategy and puts UK-led research and the heart of efforts to tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.