SeaChange Awarded 2022 North American Partnership for
Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) Grant
Revitalization of Indigenous Place-based Conservation for Coastal Restoration
The Traditional Territory of the Tseycum First Nations of Roberts Bay and Tsehum Harbour is located in what is now known as Sidney, BC, Canada on the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula. The shores of these two culturally significant areas have lost vast areas of marine nearshore habitat and biodiversity over years of impacts from development. Social and ecological consequences of broken ties between communities and in traditional cultural practices need to be restored as much as is possible during climate changes, which are increasing annually. Primary to that recovery is forming a baseline of knowledge of what lived in these two bays before impacts. The use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in combination with western technical science to create a baseline of cultural and ecological information that will inform present and future conservation and restoration actions.
SeaChange is one of 10 community projects chosen under the 2022 North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) grant program awarded by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). This NAPECA cycle is supporting community-based recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with C$1.5 million in grant funding to support environmental initiatives that help North American communities implement solutions and strengthen their capacities to recover and increase their resilience.