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<div class=""><u style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" class="">The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Discussion Group</span></u><br class="">
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" class=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">When: 4- 5 pm Thursday, August 27, 2015 <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" class=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Where: Fenner Seminar Room, Frank Fenner Building #141, Linnaeus Way, ANU <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" class="">Topic: </span></font><b style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;" class="">The interpretation of indigenous ecological knowledge in different
spheres of context in the Marshall Islands </b><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;" class="">(</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">see abstract below)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" class=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Presenter: Ms Ingrid Ahlgren, PhD Candidate,</font><font color="#000000" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class=""> </font></span><font color="#000000" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Resources,
Environment and Development (READ), Crawford School of Public Policy</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Abstract</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">: </span><br class="">
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;" class=""><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Throughout the Pacific, the concepts of</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">tapu/tambu/tabu</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">in
relation to conservation has been well documented.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">The
Marshall Islands is one of the more recent entities to become an internationally-recognized member of the club of societies with a traditional conservation ethic.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">When
pursuing its national biodiversity planning, as mandated by the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity,</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">the</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Marshallese
concept of</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">mo </i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">was</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">invoked
and embraced, therein defined</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">as “the traditional system to designate parts of land, a whole island, or a reef
area, as a restricted site.”</span><br class="">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Many other Pacific nations have similarly implemented no-take zones under a titular umbrella of traditional practices, with varying success and popularity. Indeed, programs in Fiji and
Samoa have been used in many of the workshop blueprints for exemplary management plans. In the RMI, with <i class="">mo </i>as a guiding principle, biodiversity hotspots have been identified, with input from western consulting scientists, as potential areas
for the creation of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs). These sites, however, are often conflated (and confused) with conservation areas, ignoring a complex, dynamic, and broad range of spiritually and politically imbued sites.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">So how have institutionalized forms of knowledge interacted and morphed to meet a desired set of goals within their situated cultural contexts (whether it be a Pacific Island nation or
an international political entity)? Are these activities empowering tradition and revitalization, or palatable guises for political or economic gain? Through ethnographic research and case studies of <i class="">mo </i>as part of my ongoing doctoral research<i class="">, </i>I
hope to engage in a deeper review of how traditional knowledge is conceived of, held, and allowed (or dis-allowed) to interpretation in other spheres of knowledge for a variety of reasons, and to various ends. </font></p>
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