Across Oceania - Te Au o Te Moana - Responsibility for Healthy Water Ecosystems: Governance and Practice

Themes

 Reference to an Ethics of Responsibility

Responsibility is an ethical and collective response to the environmental crisis, bringing awareness of our individual and collective impact on people and place. Responsibility supports action, research and knowledge that combine social and environmental outcomes for sustainability in programmes, policy and governance: in other words, linking earth with economy and social wellbeing. Internationally, responsibility is understood to be complementary to Human Rights, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

 Multi-disciplinary knowledge
Across Oceania -Te Au o Te Moana is a collaborative, multidisciplinary, whole systems approach to governance and management of water ecosystems.
Indigenous knowledge of the Pacific region along with science and stakeholder interests are to be included in the initiatives for water and biodiversity enhancement.
Following the Samoa meeting, participants are invited to continue to be involved through case studies and research, based on current work programmes, linking livelihood issues, aquatic systems and governance. An ongoing collaborative dimension will be supported by Te Au o Te Moana / Across Oceania project.

 Integrated governance
A whole system approach to guide the decision making path for social, economic and environmental outcomes. It engages with leadership based on an ethics of responsibility and collective accountability, with reference to indigenous interests in governance.

Goals of Te Au o Te Moana

Case studies, actions or research on water related projects, working with whole systems for integrated governance and management for the health of water ecosystems and biodiversity enhancement.

Case studies are to be undertaken in participant countries, with reference to customary and/or professional interests and commitments, over 5 years.

Purpose of Samoa Meeting

An interdisciplinary forum on GoIntegrated Governance and Responsibility for Water Ecosystems with provision for ongoing collaboration in projects with partner organizations. Contribute to an ethos of responsibility for aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity in the Pacific, including intergenerational responsibility.

Organization

The Samoa Meeting is to be hosted by RESPONSE Trust NZ, and Afeafe o Vaetoefaga, Pacific Academy for Cultural Restoration, Research and Development based in Nofoalii, Samoa and Aotearoa-New Zealand.