A project to develop the world’s first Indigenous-led marine protected area operating across the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia is one step closer to reality, with resources now committed to the development of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve.
The initiative will be the world’s first Ocean Reserve to be led and governed entirely through Indigenous knowledge, blended with modern science and regional political leadership, operating across multi-national Exclusive Economic Zones.
When complete, it will span more than six million square kilometres of ocean and islands – an area as vast as the Amazon rainforest – all designated to safeguard some of the most biologically rich and culturally diverse seas on Earth.
Original Article: World's first Indigenous-led ocean reserve a step closer to reality
