The Voices of the Ocean Decade: A Tour of the World

The inspiration for The Voices of the Ocean Decade: A Tour of the World, is Ocean Decade Challenge 10, which is focused around the idea of “Changing humanity's relationship with the ocean.” Oral Histories are open ended interviews that are used to promote effective and emotional storytelling of an individual's life history and lived experiences. Oral Histories capture and preserve knowledge for future generations and be used as baseline data to document local and ecological knowledge.

 

The project will amplify the personal testimonies and stories of identified experts, or “narrators,” who will be asked to share their embodied experiences, life stories and pass down their industrial, local or community knowledge. Through these interviews we will be able to assess scientific and structural gaps, challenges, identify opportunities of growth and collaboration and share success stories within the framework of the Ocean Decade. By collecting the Oral Histories of individuals working within the Ocean Decade, this project illuminates an individual’s experience in the Ocean Decade, including any concerns for the future. Additionally, as living archived documents, these Oral Histories will be available far beyond the end of the Ocean Decade in 2030.

 

These interviews encompass a global and multi-disciplinary perspective that is reflective of the Ocean Decade including interviewing narrators that span regional boundaries, narrators who can offer a global perspective on ocean issues and narrators from the indigenous communities, Global South and Small Island Developing States. Since the Ocean Decade has a strong emphasis on early career and youth participation, we plan on expanding our pool of potential narrators to include those from different generations. Additionally, narrators will come from different scientific fields and will work at varying levels within the Ocean Decade.

 

Perspectives from an international audience will create dialogue around some of the most pressing topics in the Ocean Decade. Interviews will include a minimum of three to five individuals from each identified region: North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Pacific and Oceania Islands, and Europe, as well as folks working in the Polar regions. By capturing individuals' embodied experiences through adapted Oral Histories, we can shine light on how to ensure the preservation and availability of stories in order to successfully complete the Ocean Decades’ outcomes.

 

The listeners to these stories take away three main points: 1. Understand the role of Oral History in advancing the narratives of the Ocean Decade, 2. Understand the gaps, challenges, and success stories of the Ocean Decade, and 3. Have a better understanding of the role of Oral Histories in capturing the unique experiences and dialogue around the Ocean Decade.

 

These interviews will be publicly available on the NOAA Voices Archives. The interviews will be used to develop visual aids detailing the challenges, gaps, needs, partnerships, and opportunities within the Ocean Decade. Additionally, these products will be used for educational purposes, policy development, and further research, ultimately providing valuable insights and humanizing the people in the Ocean Decade.