This talk investigates different cultural understandings of territory, particularly among Pacific communities and peoples. It leverages the understanding of ocean as territory that is shared among most Pacific epistemologies, and queries its legal advocacy possibilities. Because ocean as territory is deeply grounded in culture, the talk argues that cultural heritage law can be a pathway for the legal recognition of this epistemology, and that it can function to give greater voice to Pacific communities in ongoing debates about deep seabed mining, in light of the process for drafting regulations for this activity being led by the International Seabed Authority.
Lucas Lixinski is Professor and Associate Dean (International) at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney. He is also the Director of Studies globally for the International Law Association. His latest monograph is Enforcing International Judgments Domestically: The Case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Brill, 2025) (with Ayla do Vale Alves).