Women and navigation in the Pacific: an underwater cultural heritage study

Using historical maritime archaeological methods, this project will investigate the role of Indigenous women in oceans’ activities in the Pacific Islands in order to highlight the importance of Indigenous women knowledge for environmental security.

This study will be aligned with the approach of the Science-Policy Platform of the United Nations of working with indigenous and local knowledge to offer solutions to environmental challenges .

Environmental security is concerned with ecological emergencies such as climate change, food security or biodiversity loss and its effects on the security of people and societies.

Indigenous peoples in general emphasise the spiritual nature of their relationship with the land or the oceans, which is basic to their existence and to their sustainable use of the oceans .

Many Indigenous women have always been providing for their families by diving for pearls, seaweeds, shellfish, sea urchins, lobster, sea cucumber, shellfish, oyster, octopus and abalone for centuries .

These women have witnessed coastal erosion, changes in currents, warming of the seas, variation in fishing stocks, naval operations or historical shipwrecks, all essential information for environmental security.

For Indigenous communities in the Pacific Islands, the main source of livelihood is the sea and Indigenous women have a history of being the ones diving for food and resources. In addition, throughout the Pacific, women are regarded as original sources of navigation knowledge .

Consequently, as custodians and teachers of significant traditional knowledge, Indigenous women bring a unique strength and insight to oceans’ governance.

Using the ancestral voyaging knowledge and oceans’ relations of Indigenous communities, this study will contribute with science to the role of Indigenous communities’ knowledge in informing responses to global challenges.