Ways of World Knowing: Local Knowledge, Coastal Communities, and Equitable Ocean Governance

After decades of long and thorny negotiations at the United Nations, the High Seas Treaty was finalised in 2023, to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.This treaty is just one of many instruments that have been introduced as part of global policy efforts to protect oceans amid a climate crisis that is having devastating effects on marine life.Despite the prevalence of ocean knowledge in coastal communities around the world, local ways of knowing have often been marginalised in scientific narratives and legal provisions. Ways of World Knowing brings together philosophers of science, marine scientists, and lawyers to discuss the role and importance of local coastal community knowledge in order to better represent their voices in ocean governance.By analysing the epistemic value of varieties of local knowledges, this volume invites us to overcome the dichotomy often found in legal documents between marine scientific research and local knowledge.Here, the cont