For ten days, Indigenous knowledge holders from across Earth’s many rhythms have gathered—not to present papers, but to pulse together. Ovahimba. San. Penan. Piikani. Maasai. Arhuaco. Q’ero. Names that carry no institutional credentials, yet speak with the authority of land, ancestors, and songs.
Now, we open the circle. Not to center the dominant gaze, but to invite its decentering. Not to extract insight, but to be witnessed by systems that must be humbled.
This day is not about asking, “What can we do for Indigenous peoples?” It is about dwelling in deeper questions:
What has modernity forgotten? What would it mean to relate to the ocean not as a resource, but as a relative? How might emerging technologies reflect—not override—ancestral intelligences? What does wildlife ask of us when we listen relationally, not just strategically?
Ecology Custodianship Day is an invitation into a different way of being—into stewardship, reciprocity, and relational governance. It brings together Indigenous custodians from Namibia and across the globe with policymakers, researchers, NGOs, and industries—not at the head of the table, but in circle. Guiding Pulse This is not a conference. It is a relational field—a space for listening, witnessing, and re-imagining how we steward life.
Our intentions:
Cultivate pluralistic frameworks for ecological governance Cross-pollinate Indigenous knowledge systems and emerging technologies Generate tangible commitments—policies, projects, and partnerships that center relationality Knowledge between pluralistic and framework
Flow of the Day
Morning: Relational Encounters + Recognition + Thematic Round Circles I Relational Encounters: Participants move between gazebos hosted by each Indigenous group. These are not booths or exhibitions, but living spaces for story, song, gesture, and grounded conversation. These are invitations to listen—not interrogate. Official Recognition: A high-level government official will offer remarks that affirm the ancestral role of Indigenous communities in shaping Namibia’s ecological futures and signal a governmental openness to plural forms of stewardship.
Thematic Round Circles I: Focused dialogues begin in each gazebo, rooted in key themes such as:
“Relating to the Ocean as Kin”
“Indigenizing Technological Infrastructures”
“Ritual and Regulation: Redesigning Policy from Wisdom”
“Human-Wildlife Coexistence as Ethical Mandate”
Midday: Ocean Literacy Toolkit Launch A celebratory unveiling and dialogue around the Ocean Literacy Toolkit—a co-developed resource honoring Indigenous oceanic knowledge, stewardship practices, and intergenerational care for water bodies.
Afternoon: Thematic Round Circles II A second round of dialogue circles will deepen the morning’s themes or open new intersections. These are spaces for slow listening, generative friction, and co-sensing pathways forward.
Closing: Relational Commitments + Tangible Harvest The full circle reconvenes. We do not end with a statement—but with a harvest: A collective compost pile of insights, tensions, invitations, and seeds for projects to be tended beyond the event.
Anticipated Outcomes Policy proposals rooted in ancestral and ecological wisdom Seeded collaborations between communities, NGOs, and governments Funding strategies for Indigenous-led innovation and ecological technologies A living web of co-stewardship, accountability, and knowledge reciprocity
A Different Kind of Outcome: A Shift in Being The deepest outcome may not be a report. It may be a shift in what knowledge looks like, who is listened to, and how we relate across power and difference.
Join us.
Bring your listening. Bring your unlearning. Bring your readiness to reweave the world.
