the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 26 Sep 2024
Spreading the Message: Capacity Development and Ocean Literacy
Abstract. Ocean literacy and capacity development aim to bridge knowledge gaps at various levels and ocean forecasting is the engine that can support the overcoming of such limits, easing the connections between science and society through data and information. Ocean literacy focuses on understanding the fundamental reason behind ocean processes – the “know-why” that brings awareness of human impacts on our ocean and supports more informed decision-making, disseminating knowledge about the importance of preserving, protecting and sustaining the marine environment. Capacity development, on the other side, offers processes to enhance abilities and skills for implementing solutions, achieving goals and supporting collaboration. This review discusses ocean literacy activities as driven by IOC-UNESCO to support Sustainable Development Goals for increasing knowledge and awareness of climate change and marine resources. It also offers an overview of primary frameworks for capacity development in ocean science through education, training and community exchanges, describing existing initiatives from global to regional scale. These frameworks are constantly evolving and must continue to be refined, particularly in identifying the best approaches, evaluating the impact on such initiatives and increasing their efficiency and effectiveness.
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RC1: 'Comment on sp-2024-11', Alexis Valauri-Orton, 05 Nov 2024
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This manuscript takes a very narrow approach to the term capacity development that I do not think is representative of the field. Capacity development does not just include knowledge-building activities but also building of physical infrastructure, partnerships, and financial infrastructure necessary for ocean forecasting. The manuscript includes the OECD definition of capacity development which includes these more broad and inclusive activities but misinterprets it. Capacity development does not focus on knowledge gaps. It focuses on capacity gaps. This is a clear distinction, as knowledge is quite often not the barrier preventing action on ocean forecasting. The three areas of capacity development outlined in section 3 are relevant but not a complete representation of capacity development strategies or needs and miss critical areas such as building physical infrastructure, developing low-cost tools, designing new methods to enable sustained observations, etc.
There are also research efforts underway in the ocean literacy space to suggest that knowledge transfer does not yield ocean-aware decision making as much as behavior-change and social marketing focused approaches. It would be useful for the authors to broaden their definition of ocean literacy to not just include "filling the knowledge gap" and to describe methods for more encouraging more ocean-aware decision making or world views. This is explored somewhat in section 2.2, but it would be best established in the paper's introduction when framing the concept of ocean literacy from the beginning.
The paper also lacks discussion regarding the critical importance of co-design for any capacity development program to be successful. Capacity development programs must be co-designed with the target population in order to ensure the needs of the target population are being met.
The paper would be much improved if it included a more diverse group of co-authors, especially including from regions with limited ocean forecasting capacity.
The groups and methods outlined in the paper are examples of high quality work and are useful to showcase for the community. However, they are an incomplete representation of the field.
Note also that figure 3 refers to the number of papers where the first author is from that country.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2024-11-RC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on sp-2024-11', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Nov 2024
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Ocean literacy and capacity development must be examined from a broader perspective. Capacity development should offer processes that help enhance our knowledge and understanding of the ocean and not just put as “offers processes to enhance abilities and skills for implementing solutions, achieving goals and supporting collaboration,” as stated by the authors. Ocean literacy should not just bring awareness or “know-why” of human impacts on our ocean but support more informed decision-making, disseminating knowledge about the importance of preserving, protecting, and sustaining the marine environment.” It should be viewed as a way of connecting people intergenerational, i.e., kids to adults, decision-makers to non-decision-makers, about the importance of the ocean to people and the planet and the need to protect it. In most societies, especially in the developing world, most people do not know about the ocean and so do not empathize with its abuse or why resources should be allocated for its study and management. In most developing countries, leaders prioritize needs other than the protection and conservation of the ocean and so, therefore, do not allocate budgets for its study and management. I believe that if a connection to the ocean were built among these leaders while they were younger, they would have a great sense of responsibility towards the ocean. The article needs to build on the UN Ocean Decade white papers on challenges 9 and 10. These are the most recent articles on capacity development and ocean literacy within the framework of the UN Ocean Decade, but both are completely missing in this paper. The paper will be more impactful if it makes key ocean literacy and capacity development recommendations, i.e., where are we with respect to OL and CD, and where should we be heading? The paper is only a literature review, which does not identify any gaps in the subject and how they can be bridged. It is unclear what actions the paper is recommending or putting forth. There is no new knowledge here.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2024-11-RC2
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