Overall targets
The main objective of this intervention is to substantially strengthen the articulation of civil society in the Indian Ocean in general and Mauritius in particular, around socio-ecological and political issues affecting coastal and marine dependent communities.
Immediate targets
Objective 1: A new media platform has increased knowledge and collective awareness amongst up to 100,000 people regarding climate change, socio-ecological, economic and political issues primarily in the Indian Ocean region. Objective 2: The capacities of targeted representatives of social movements and CSOs to advocate for environmental justice in political processes has been increased. Objective 3: A common regional campaign against ocean extractivism and exploitation is launched in the Indian Ocean Region. Objective 4: A national campaign and coalition working on ocean and beach grabbing issues has been consolidated and provided significant protest and advocacy activity.
Target groups
1. The primary target group of the alternative media platform are people already active within the Mauritian and Indian Ocean civil society. This group comprises adult people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations and religious beliefs. As civil society activists, these people can be expected to already have an ‘audience’ of their own, or otherwise a target group that they conduct their activism in cooperation with and/or on behalf of. This group is expected to have at least 15,000 people connected to people working people in tourism, fishing, ocean activities and small planting activities. 2. The participants of the SoE are activists from a broad range of social movements and organisations in the region in line with the representation existing within CARES, they will be our second target group. 3. The third target group will be representatives from the Indian Ocean and coastal SE African region participating in the Indian Ocean Conference. 4. The fourth target group for the Ocean Grabbing campaign will be local policymakers and institutions, whose decisions to granting permits, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Certificate for constructions of hotels and luxurious villas on wetlands contribute to flash floods, destruction of marine commons and restrict access to beach areas.
Resume
The intervention “The Rising Ocean” between the Centre for Alternative Research and Studies (CARES) and Afrika Kontakt (AK) is a four-part project to support the emerging Indian Ocean peoples’ movement which will address socio-ecological and political issues affecting the people of the region. Through the School of Ecology and Indian Ocean Conference, social movements from the Indian Ocean region and coastal South East Africa, will gain a common understanding of the pressing effects of climate change, socio-ecological and political issues in the region, share challenges and strengthen their networks to be able to present sustainable and democratic alternatives for a more just management of the ocean commons. The major activity running alongside the whole intervention, will be developing an Alternative Media Platform, run in collaboration with journalists and activists, promoting and creating counter narratives to the dominant and elitist narratives on climate/ecological and socio-economic issues. This way vulnerable communities and movements will use the platform to advocate for their demands for socio-economic rights, nature rights, the concept of commons, energy democracy and low carbon economy, as well putting political pressure on policy measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.