Virtual ocean literacy for local coastal communities to strengthen their informed environmental participation in Latin America
Abstract
Ocean literacy (OL) can be a pivotal transformative and empowering factor for social changes, and it can lay the foundations to ensure an inclusive and equitable access to the sustainable management of ocean biodiversity. But to do this, OL must first reach local coastal communities, whose survival depends on marine biodiversity. Ultimately, the aim of OL is to provide science-based knowledge and tools that can inform environmental participation of communities in the decision making process; raise awareness of the importance of ecological balance in relationships between communities and ecosystems; and foster positive transformations of local practices.
In addition, since governments are increasingly required to support their environmental decisions with scientific evidence, there is a growing recognition that environmental issues can be more effectively addressed when there is participation of scientists. However, the language of marine science can be inaccessible to local communities most affected by the environmental degradation of the oceans. In that sense, virtual science communication must not only solve the challenges of technology and virtualization, but must also consider the urgent need to offer OL in an accessible, friendly and action-oriented language for all, in particular for local coastal communities. Through the networks of the Observatory for Marine and Coastal Governance (Colombia), qualitative data and case studies of "good practices" have been collected. We analyse these recent case studies, in which marine scientists in Latin America have been involved in supporting local coastal communities. We present methods we have used to bridge gaps between the technical language of marine science and local discourse in coastal communities. We will also share best practices for increasing engagement of marine scientists in OL for local coastal communities.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMSY007..01M
- Keywords:
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- 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATION;
- 0845 Instructional tools;
- EDUCATION;
- 1635 Oceans;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 6620 Science policy;
- POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES