There is a need to practice traditional and transitional knowledge in the fight against the impact of climate change on the ocean.

Methods involving traditional fishing techniques, knowledge sharing, and the declaration of marine-protected areas are important, as they will help safeguard our oceans.

This has been stressed by French Ambassador in Fiji, Francois-Xavier Leger, in an event at the Fiji Museum in Suva today.

The French Ambassador says the purpose of organizing the event was to deliberate on the three pillars of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.

“Today we are relating it to the third pillar, on how we can try to assess the knowledge, traditional and scientific knowledge in nature about the ocean. And how can we utilize this for the benefit of the people?”

Ambassador Leger adds that they have been promoting this initiative since 2017 through the KIWA Initiative and will continue to do so with its scope of activities for mitigating the impacts of climate change.

“We continue with this project and the French Development Agency will continue this program. And our main scope of activities is adaptation, remediation for climate change, and ocean is obviously a part of it.”

The French Ambassador has highlighted that they will continue to work with their partners to facilitate the access of local communities to bigger projects and financial instruments.