Abstract
We develop and apply a systematic review methodology to identify and understand how the peer-reviewed literature characterises Indigenous peoples’ involvement in marine governance and management approaches in terms of equity and justice worldwide. We reviewed the peer-reviewed English-language research articles between January 2015 and September 2020 for examples of Indigenous peoples’ involvement in marine governance and management using the analytical lens of environmental justice. The majority of research studies highlighted that Indigenous peoples experienced some form of environmental injustice linked to existing marine governance and management, most notably in the context of inequitable decision-making procedures surrounding the establishment and operation of marine protected areas. However, there are significant gaps in the current literature, including a notable absence of studies exploring Indigenous women and other gender minorities’ involvement in marine planning and management and the limited number of studies about Indigenous peoples living throughout Asia, the Arctic, Russia, and Africa. More studies are needed to explore collaborative and intersectional approaches, including co-governance and co-management and ecosystem-based management, and critically evaluate what constitutes inclusive, equitable, and just marine governance and management processes, practices, and outcomes for different Indigenous peoples occupying diverse social–ecological systems.
Highlights
In this paper, we connect two key transdisciplinary themes—the study of Indigenous peoples’ involvement in marine governance and management and the study of environmental justice (EJ)—to highlight the synergies and ongoing conversations that are being sustained within the Indigenous environmental and ocean-related literatures [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The method allowed us both structure and flexibility to extend our thinking around Indigenous environmental justice issues associated with marine governance and management based on the collated data [137]
All the papers we reviewed included some aspect that related to Indigenous people in their research
Summary
We connect two key transdisciplinary themes—the study of Indigenous peoples’ involvement in marine governance and management and the study of environmental justice (EJ)—to highlight the synergies and ongoing conversations that are being sustained within the Indigenous environmental and ocean-related literatures [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Indigenous marine management and EJ literatures have come into closer proximity due to the ever-increasing awareness of the interconnection between many of the socio-political and environmental challenges facing Indigenous peoples These include Indigenous communities being marginalised within formal decision-making processes, experiencing heightened vulnerability to environmental risks alongside greater incidence of food and water insecurity, and constrained access to essential information (most notably about environmental health), services (such as health and education) and infrastructure (water and sewerage) and sustainable development opportunities [83,84,85,86,87,88].
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