Picture caption: Forty-five participants have been selected for the Young Pacific Leaders contingent to attend a marine conservation workshop in French Polynesia.
A group of 45 Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) have met for the first time, ahead of the Tiaki Moana Summit and Workshop in Pōrīnetia Farāni, in March 2025.
The YPL will gather in Tahiti, Mo’orea, and Ra’iatea from March 24-28, 2025, to attend the summit and workshop to enhance marine conservation efforts and address ocean health challenges.
Having recently been selected via nomination from an extremely high calibre group of marine conservation-focused young people, representing 22 Pacific countries, the group recently met virtually to learn more about what it means to be part of a YPL program.
United States-Pacific Regional Engagement Specialist Mara Hosoda Su’a says participants will collaborate with Pacific, international, and US experts in marine conservation in Pōrīnetia Farāni.
“They will have the opportunity to explore potential for other effective conservation measures (OECMs), integrating Indigenous knowledge and interdisciplinary science,” Mara says.
“Through hands-on activities and discussions, this group will build capacity in innovative strategies, policy development, and community engagement, all while contributing to climate change resilience, biodiversity conservation and sustainable environmental management across the Pacific region.”
It is also a time for making life-long connections with peers from across the Pacific, she adds.
Since 2013, the YPL program has served as a way for the US Government to strengthen leadership development, partnership, and networking in the Pacific.
It seeks to build the leadership capabilities of young people in the region, while bolstering ties between the U.S. and Pacific countries by focusing on critical topics identified by youth in the region.
These include education, environment and resource management, civic leadership, economic and social development.
The YPL contingent heading to Pōrīnetia Farāni is made up of 48 percent male and 52 percent female, with the average age of participants sitting at 28 years old.
Nine participants are YPL alumni and all of them are passionate about the Pacific, as well as marine conservation and science.
Most of the participants are studying or working in a marine related field already, including the likes of Emma Oliver, an Eco and Wildlife Tourism Tutor at the University of Natural Resources and Environment and Founder of ENB Sea Keepers in Papua New Guinea, and Uan Bwebwetaake, a Senior Fisheries Assistant – Research and Monitoring Unit, in Kiribati.
Climate change, overfishing, deep sea mining along with many other things are impacting the marine environment, and Pacific countries are experiencing these effects, firsthand.
The YPL program is supporting the development of the next generation of leaders, to address ocean health challenges, head-on.
Visit the Tiaki Moana website for more information about the summit and the YPL website to learn about the initiative.
Congratulations to the YPL contingent selected to travel to Pōrīnetia Farāni.
YPL contingent
- Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka (American Samoa)
- Alphina Liusamoa (American Samoa)
- Joshua Taylor (Australia)
- Charmain Cinnabar (Australia)
- Dr Antony Vavia (Cook Islands)
- Jessie Nicolson (Cook Islands)
- Jeannyleen Andrew (Federated States of Micronesia)
- Gabriel Mara (Fiji)
- Wilson Hazelman (Fiji)
- Claire Oiire (Solomon Islands
- Laisani Waqairadovu (Fiji)
- Shudha Singh (Fiji)
- Tamara Lui (Samoa)
- Ihirau Piton (French Polynesia)
- Jessica Tran (French Polynesia)
- Teva Bequet (French Polynesia)
- Tohei Theophilus (French Polynesia)
- Tuiterai Salmon (French Polynesia)
- Anuata Tetuanui (French Polynesia)
- Coralie Perrin (French Polynesia)
- Ashley Hope Castro (Guam)
- Keanu Rochette-Yu Tsuen (Hawai’i)
- Alexi Meltel (Hawai’i)
- Tiein Taebo (Kiribati)
- Bwebwetaake Uan (Kiribati)
- Bryant Jeffery Zebedy (Marshall Islands)
- Klaus Jacob (Nauru)
- Alan Brochard (New Caledonia)
- Liam Kokaua (Cook Islands)
- Ceara Wallace (Aotearoa New Zealand)
- James Ahikaroa Cherrington (Aotearoa New Zealand)
- Tanga Tasman Gillies (Aotearoa New Zealand)
- Mananui Ramsden (Aotearoa New Zealand)
- JinNam Hopotoa (Niue)
- Sjeila Babuta (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Alexander Tudela (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Kenley Rudimch-Kenneth (Palau)
- Emma Oliver (Papua New Guinea)
- Jacinta Jonathan (Papua New Guinea)
- Emalus Malifa (Samoa)
- Gyllain Taei (Samoa)
- Sesimani Lokotui (Tonga)
- Faulufalenga Epu (Tuvalu)
- Emil Samuel (Vanuatu)
- Kataya Barrett (Australia)
