COMPASS
COMPASS - Co-designed Ocean Management through Planetary Health, Ancestral Knowledge, and Stewardship Systems
This project focuses on the inability of existing governance systems to connect diverse forms of knowledge with equitable, coordinated stewardship systems, what we call – stewardship intelligence.
This project has received funding from SFU's Climate Innovation 2026 Amplification Grant, building on the 2025 Catalyst Grant and Pollinator Award funded Bringing Distant Horizons Closer research program.
Transforming environmental stewardship
COMPASS seeks to help mitigate climate change by transforming environmental stewardship. The project creates an enabling infrastructure that connects diverse forms of environmental intelligence with stewardship decisions while preserving the relationships, responsibilities, and governance that give knowledge meaning.
Project team and community partners
- Manuhuia Barcham, SFU School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT)
- Anne Salomon SFU Resource and Environmental Management (REM)
- Ron Wakkary, SFU SIAT
- Kyle Wilson, SFU REM
- Michael Hathaway, SFU Sociology & Anthropology
Co-creation Partners
- Roger Dunlop, Nuchatlaht First Nation
- Taawhana Chadwick, Ngāti Hori
- Heather Castleden, Public Administration, Faculty of Social Science, University of Victoria
Potential Outcomes
This project phase is laying the foundation for a high-value research programme delivering significant social, cultural, ecological, and economic transformations in marine and coastal stewardship in successful mitigation and adaption of climate change impacts.
- Social: strengthen community-led governance
Strengthen the capacity of Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities to lead environmental decision-making by supporting community-led governance, stewardship intelligence, and long-term partnerships among communities, researchers, governments, and practitioners - Cultural: respecting knowledge systems
advance respectful collaboration between Indigenous Knowledge, scientific knowledge, and local environmental knowledge - Ecological: healthier marine ecosystems
improve the capacity of communities and institutions to anticipate and respond to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other cumulative environmental pressures. By integrating community observations, Earth observation technologies, and responsible artificial intelligence within community-controlled stewardship systems, the project will address major knowledge gaps in global assessments and support more adaptive conservation, ecosystem restoration, fisheries stewardship, and climate resilience, contributing to healthier marine ecosystems. - Economic: long-term sustainability
stronger stewardship and more informed environmental decision-making will enhance the long-term sustainability of fisheries, coastal livelihoods, and nature-based economies.
Community-controlled digital infrastructure and stewardship intelligence will reduce barriers to environmental information, improve planning and resource management, and create opportunities for innovation, skills development, and partnerships. Collectively, these transformations will contribute to more resilient coastal economies while demonstrating scalable models of community-led stewardship that can inform policy and practice nationally and internationally in climate change mitigation and adaptation.