Inclusive and ethical stewardship of movable cultural heritage in museums and repositories is especially important with items that are subject to repatriation procedures. Collaborative partnerships between Indigenous communities and cultural heritage stewards can offer creative methods to resolve issues surrounding safety, security, preservation, and ritual treatment of these items. There is a strong global need for cross-boundary comparative studies to identify common challenges and innovative, inclusive strategies that transcend the variable legal landscape. In this paper, we describe case studies from California, USA and southern Taiwan that overcame potentially conflicting situations and successfully crafted Indigenous-led solutions to local problems. The outcomes were revitalization and reconnection of communities with their movable cultural heritage, as well as a transferable ethos and methods for Indigenous-centered strategies.

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Complex watercraft were central to the functioning of many Indigenous coastal and island communities around the world. These communities, however, are often assumed to be small-scale bounded social entities adapted to local ecosystems, especially in comparison to land-based agricultural societies, states, and empires. In this paper we seek to understand how regional interactions helped create and sustain systems of Indigenous social and cultural diversity by taking a fresh and comparative look at the “active” role played by local boatbuilding traditions in the networks and social dynamics of Indigenous coastal communities. We argue that one critical yet often overlooked aspect of the use of watercraft is the capacity for advanced boat technologies to have “transformative” impacts on local communities by creating new kinds of social relations and networking opportunities. In this paper we undertake a comparative analysis of two Indigenous boat-building traditions, one in southern California and the other in Northeast Asia. We examine how innovation in maritime watercraft technology contributed to the formation of wide-ranging interaction spheres where participation by Indigenous communities helped shape the history of the wider region. We suggest that innovations in boat technologies led to positive-feedback loops of social intensification which significantly contributed to the historical trajectories of both world regions.

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The Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 Asia Spotlight Event (SRI-ASE 2022) was held virtually from June 21-24, 2022 and co-organized by Future Earth Global Secretariat Hubs in Asia based in Japan, Taipei, China, and South Asia, during the main sessions of the SRI 2022. SRI-ASE 2022 included over 70 speakers and more than 300 participants from within and outside the Asia region. The aim of the event was to provide space to reflect on inspiring research and discussions related to the themes: New Horizons, Different Ways of Knowing, Nexus Issues, and Cross-cutting Science and Innovation in Asia. This report gives an overview of the event by sharing learnings and reflections captured and developed by Early Career Researcher Representatives who participated in speaker sessions, took notes, prepared summation of the event by theme (see table 1), and presented summaries at the Closing Plenary of the Asia Spotlight Event (ASE). The report brings these various themes together, spotlighting key issues on Sustainability and Innovation in Asia as presented at the four-day event. A breakdown of the themes is as follows:

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We continue to search for quality papers that serve to illustrate the growing discussion of Indigenous issues and aspects of cultural diversity in research. If you, or someone you know, are interested in contributing to our journal, we encourage you to submit a proposal or a paper for consideration. Our editors will be more than happy to help you craft your thoughts into an expression of your ideas and thoughts.

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