The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will strive to protect marine life in the pristine waters of the region. Photo credit: David Doubilet/National Geographic Creative.
Source: Islands Knowledge Institute
At the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), the Governments of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu announced their intention to create the Melanesian Ocean Reserve to safeguard the ancestral waters, homelands, and peoples of the southwestern Pacific.
The area is one of the world’s most biodiverse marine regions and protecting it will secure the economic and cultural vitality of hundreds of distinct Indigenous peoples while furthering global climate, biodiversity, and ocean goals.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will be the first Indigenous-led multi-national ocean reserve on Earth.
When complete, it will span at least six million square kilometres of ocean and islands—an area as vast as the Amazon rainforest.
It will encompass the combined national waters of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea, and connect with the protected waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone of New Caledonia.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele says for millennia, the Indigenous peoples of Melanesia have been the wisest and most effective stewards of these sacred waters.
“That is why the Governments of Melanesia are joining forces to create an unprecedented ocean reserve that honours our identities, livelihoods, and spiritual connections,” the Prime Minister adds.
Vanuatu’s Minister for Environment Ralph Regenvanu says it is an objective of the country’s National Ocean Policy to establish this transboundary corridor of traditionally managed ocean space between countries.
“The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will give the Governments and peoples of Melanesia the ability to do much more to protect our ancestral waters from those who extract and exploit without concern for our planet and its living beings,” Minister Regenvanu says.
“We hope our Indigenous stewardship of this vast reserve will create momentum for similar initiatives all over the world.”
Although the formal announcement was made by the Governments of Vanuatu and the Solomons, the Governments of Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia anticipate joining the Melanesian Ocean Reserve.
The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are showing their willingness to commit to contribute all their archipelagic waters and areas beyond to the Melanesian Ocean Reserve and they will permit only sustainable economic activities consistent with Indigenous values in these waters.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is the brainchild of two highly respected Indigenous leaders who met for the first time and began sketching out the blueprint at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Cali, Colombia last year – Solomon Islands’ Minister for Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management, and Meteorology Hon Trevor Mahaga, and Minister Regenvanu.
Ministers Mahaga and Regenvanu fleshed out the Melanesian Ocean Reserve concept with Hon Jelta Wong, Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, with the support of the nonprofits Nia Tero and Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI).
Nia Tero, led by an Indigenous Chief Executive and a majority-Indigenous board, is a global facilitator of direct funding to Indigenous peoples.
Nia Tero CEO ‘Aulani Wilhelm says the Melanesian leaders are giving voice to the hope of all Oceanic peoples—to be able to fully bring forward the dream and knowledge of our ancestors in the modern day and to care for the ocean and the planet in the way they deserve.
The IKI, led by the Solomons-based Indigenous Ecologist Dr Edgar Pollard, has been the primary incubator of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve initiative, supporting deep conversations among country leaders and fostering a sense of motivating progress.
“The Melanesian Ocean Reserve has progressed from an idea to a powerful platform among Melanesian leaders because it connects to an unmistakable truth in their lives: that treating the ocean as our home, in the deepest sense of the word, is the best protection,” Dr Pollard says.
“The excitement and inspiration driving the Melanesian Ocean Reserve stems from the chance at making this relationship real in the context of our countries at every level, from the tribe to the village to the state.”
Visit the Melanesian Ocean website for more information.
