Human-ocean relationships: Exploring alignment and collaboration between ocean literacy research and marine conservation

Abstract

In recent years, global attention on marine conservation and sustainability has surged. Understanding the relationship between society and the ocean is crucial for achieving conservation targets, ocean sustainability, and community well-being. Toward these ends, the UN Ocean Decade recognizes ocean literacy as a transformative mechanism to reshape society-ocean relationships. Ocean literacy seeks to empower global communities to better understand, value, and care for the ocean in ways that support, restore, and ensure ocean-human health and well-being. By extension, ocean literacy research is an emergent transdisciplinary field of inquiry that explores diverse dimensions, drivers, and impacts of human-ocean relationships. It considers these relations across different socio-cultural, economic, political, and geographic contexts and perspectives. In this article, we position ocean literacy research and the wider concept of ocean literacy as a framework for exploring the relational aspects of marine conservation to inform effective policy and conservation. We begin by situating ocean literacy and ocean literacy dimensions, research priorities, and community alongside broader ocean conservation efforts. We next share insights gleaned from the third edition of the Ocean Literacy Dialogues series, led by the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition and the Marine Social Sciences Network, with support from IOC-UNESCO, held during the fifth International Marine Protected Area Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver, in early 2023. Through a series of participatory sessions, we explored the application of ocean literacy research in supporting future marine conservation and management. Drawing on insights co-developed through this process, we outline potential agenda alignment between IMPAC5 marine conservation themes and co-identified ocean literacy research priority areas. We lastly speak to the importance of ongoing collaborative initiatives like the Ocean Literacy Dialogues series to foster global collaborations, dialogue, and capacity sharing to advance ocean literacy, marine conservation, and policy efforts.