Indigenous youth leaders share perspectives on ocean protection, emphasizing Indigenous knowledge, rights, and the protection of ocean kin for health and well-being.
This side event centers Indigenous youth leadership in ensuring Indigenous Peoples' health through the protection of ocean kin. For Indigenous coastal communities, ocean health is directly linked to physical health, food sovereignty, mental well-being, cultural continuity, and intergenerational resilience. In contexts of conflict—including resource extraction, pollution, overfishing, climate disruption, and the criminalization of Indigenous fishers—harm to ocean ecosystems results in direct harm to Indigenous Peoples' health systems and ways of life. Ocean kin are not resources; they are relatives within legal and governance systems grounded in responsibility and reciprocity. Indigenous youth are advancing rights-based frameworks that recognize the inherent rights of marine ecosystems while affirming Indigenous jurisdiction over coastal territories. Through community-led marine stewardship, legal advocacy, and cultural practice, youth leaders are restoring ocean ecosystems as a foundation for community health and collective well-being. This discussion contributes to the 2026 UNPFII theme by demonstrating that protecting ocean kin is essential to ensuring Indigenous Peoples' health, particularly in contexts of environmental conflict.
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