ICC Applauds States in Reaching Agreement on a Global Treaty to Protect Oceans

March 9, 2023 – Nuuk, Greenland – Last week’s agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine areas on the high seas was a long time in coming but a major step forward, according to the Inuit Circumpolar Council. 

Following years of negotiations, the new international legally binding treaty will help ensure the protection of two-thirds of the world’s oceans that are beyond national jurisdiction. 

“When Inuit look out across the ocean, we see an ocean that connects us rather than separate us,’ said Sara Olsvig, ICC’s International Chair. “The oceans are the life of Inuit and all people worldwide.”

“The marine mammals, fish and birds that visit the Arctic through their lifecycles sustain us and the Arctic Ocean provides the rich nurseries for many of the planet’s biodiversity,” Olsvig said. “Inuit are a maritime people – we depend on the coast, ocean and sea ice for our food security, culture and economy. From an Inuit perspective, like human rights, all living beings are interrelated, interdependent and interconnected – when one dimension is impacted there is a dynamic cascade amongst connecting ecological structures across abiotic, biotic and cultural elements.”

Lisa Koperqualuk, ICC Canada President, participated in the negotiations to bring the voice of Inuit to this stage. “Over centuries, Generations of observations and our intimate relationship with the marine environment has allowed us to develop a distinct knowledge base of the Arctic marine ecosystem, coasts, ocean and sea ice that are a uniquely characteristic of this region.”

Koperqualuk said Indigenous knowledge is embedded in Inuit language, culture, values and customs. 
“We view ourselves as a species among all other species of the oceans and coastal seas,” she explained. “In our changing world, Indigenous knowledge is important to all of humanity, should be recognized as legitimate, valuable and understood side by side with scientific knowledge.”

Indigenous knowledge is included in this new treaty just as it is in the 2018 Central Arctic Ocean agreement which brought in a 16-year moratorium on fishing in the high Arctic. Both agreements point to the role of Indigenous Peoples and the co-production of knowledge. 

“The Central Arctic Ocean is international waters and the treaty is yet another international agreement where Inuit have a voice and contribution through our knowledge,” said Koperqualuk.

 “The co-production of knowledge must be developed in a way that is consistent with Inuit and other Indigenous peoples as rights holders — and knowledge holders — in every aspect of research and related activities,” said Oslvig. “Indigenous knowledge is necessary for addressing the inter-related ocean, biodiversity and climate change crises.”

“Inuit are at the forefront of the multiple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and contaminants and as such see this agreement and the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as important steps towards a future for our grandchildren,” Koperqualuk added. “Global action is needed to protect the Arctic and Inuit applaud this advancement.”

This agreement respects the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Free Prior and Informed consent, it recognizes the value of Indigenous knowledge and the rights of Indigenous peoples and Inuit encourage all government to ratify this agreement and ensure its entry into force. The planet depends on it.

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