A major new report, Reviving Melanesia’s Ocean Economy: The Case for Action, launched today, has revealed that the ocean is a much larger part of Melanesia’s economy and future prosperity than previously understood.
Melanesia is a large sub-region in the Pacific that extends from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region includes Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
The report maps the contribution of the ocean to the region in new ways and finds that the overall value of the ocean and coastlines in Melanesia is at least US$548 billion. The report describes the ocean’s major role in food production, livelihoods and economic activity, and shows that the annual economic output of the ocean in Melanesia is at least US$5.4 billion, making the ‘ocean economy’ larger than most of the region’s national economies.
The report can be downloaded at the following link: http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?281490/Melanesias-Ocean-Worth-Half-a-Trillion-USD-but-Under-Pressure
