The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is the world's first Indigenous-led, multi-national Ocean reserve protection framework operating across the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), territorial, and archipelagic waters of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia. The framework connects over 6,000,000 square kilometres of ocean and islands — an area as vast as the Amazon rainforest.
It reflects active regional coordination of nations to protect the vast ocean spaces that sustain Melanesian peoples and ecosystems through Indigenous governance and traditional custodianship. It serves as an umbrella approach that supports a mosaic of management regimes — ranging from strict no-take zones to highly managed areas where Indigenous stewardship ensures protections that match or exceed those of marine protected areas (MPAs) globally.
The Reserve is built on a fundamental concept: that these waters and ecosystems are the home of the Indigenous Peoples who have occupied them for hundreds of centuries, and that their continued harmonious presence in this area will be the best way to secure it for the long term.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve connects 6,000,000 square kilometres of ocean and islands, making it one of the largest marine protected areas globally.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is not a single Marine Protected Area. Instead, it weaves together each nation’s existing marine protected areas (MPAs), locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), and community-based resource management areas (CBRMs). Grounded in Indigenous-led ocean governance and aligned with the global framework of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), the Reserve creates a national and regional framework that safeguards these local initiatives from political reversal, fragmentation, or lack of scale. By connecting community efforts to broader ocean governance and development goals, it strengthens both ecological resilience and sustainable economic opportunities for Ocean Peoples.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is more than a conservation tool—it represents a commitment to long-term stewardship that is consistent with international standards while firmly rooted in local leadership, traditional knowledge, and customary governance systems. This ensures that Indigenous Peoples, as holders of authority and responsibility, remain at the centre of active ocean governance and stewardship.
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea are the involved countries with Ministerial-level leadership from all three strengthening the regional momentum behind the initiative. While individual governments are at different stages of policy interpretation, each country is playing a distinct role in shaping the reserve’s cultural, ecological, and governance frameworks.
Using the Solomon Islands as an example, in June 2025, a cabinet paper was passed on the concept of recognition for the current fisheries protection by the foundation within their EEZ, focused on three zones:
In addition, the Solomon Islands is spearheading operational principles, legal designation, concepts of zonation, and policy integration through its National Ocean Policy (SINOP). The provinces of Temotu and Makira are among the first to commit to large-scale marine closures and serve as early implementation sites. Solomon Islands is also leading regional diplomacy and cross-border agreements, such as the Tirvau and Motulave Agreement with Vanuatu.
Likewise, in August 2025, Vanuatu also passed a cabinet paper and plays a key role in expanding the “blue cultural corridors” concept in collaboration with the Solomon Islands on joint marine governance, especially through the Torba Province’s alignment with Temotu Province.
Together, these nations are creating a unified yet locally grounded ocean governance model that blends traditional custodianship with modern science and policy.
The governments involved in the Melanesian Ocean Reserve are establishing a dedicated operational Office to operationalize governance across jurisdictions — a central pillar essential to the Reserve's effective functioning. This Office will serve as a coordinated implementation hub, providing technical support, facilitating regional diplomacy, and ensuring seamless partner collaboration. Each country will also assign Ministers to the Melanesian Ocean Reserve Ministerial Platform, offering crucial political support and oversight of the Office to guide and sustain the initiative’s impact.
The focus reflects a commitment to progressing a framework that is already endorsed and under implementation.
The Reserve is:
• Already approved
• Already funded
• Already delivering
It aligns government policy, investment, and implementation through platforms such as Ocean 12, ensuring outcomes, not just commitments.
The Reserve is the world’s first Indigenous-led, multi-national ocean reserve, uniting the stewardship of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea. It is characterised by:
Because effective ocean governance requires:
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve ensures commitments translate into practical outcomes on the ground which include programme work in:
The Reserve demonstrates a new operational model of ocean governance:
It contributes to global priorities such as:
The zonation framework within the Melanesian Ocean Reserve integrates ecological protection, cultural sovereignty, and economic opportunity. The Reserve uses a multi-zone structure to reflect the diverse needs, histories, and priorities of Indigenous communities across participating nations.
The zones serve several key purposes:
Each country is progressing their zoning frameworks in ways that reflect its laws, customs, and priorities. The example below is based on the Solomon Islands model, which includes:
Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea will be establishing their specific zones with New Caledonia following the zoning process already defined for its EEZ.
Activities that the Melanesian Ocean Reserve is actively advancing and implementing include:
In the case of commercial fishing, the focus is on implementing strong, Indigenous-informed management frameworks that prioritise ecological sustainability and long-term ocean health.
The reserve is strengthening and coordinating successful regional models, such as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) — of which Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea are members. PNA nations manage the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery, contributing around 50% of the global skipjack tuna supply, while effectively minimising by-catch of vulnerable species like dolphins and whale sharks.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve zones follow a no-loss revenue principle, ensuring that conservation does not come at the expense of national economies. Existing regimes already place limits on commercial fishing in certain zones, and the Reserve strengthens and coordinates these frameworks so that protection is paired with prosperity. Small-scale, Indigenous-led fisheries may continue in designated areas outside the strictly protected zones, where they are carefully managed to support both conservation and cultural practices.
On deep-sea mining, leaders of the Reserve have reaffirmed commitments under the Udaone Declaration, which applies the precautionary principle, and note the Solomon Islands’ moratorium across its EEZ. Very little is known about the long-term impacts of seabed mining, and activities in one country can affect ecosystems far beyond national boundaries. This uncertainty, combined with risks to biodiversity and the interconnected nature of Pacific waters, makes precaution essential.
For Indigenous Peoples of Melanesia, the ocean is not just a resource — it is an ancestral domain, a sacred space tied to identity, culture, and custodianship. Deep-sea mining undermines these cultural and spiritual connections, threatening relationships that have safeguarded Pacific waters for millennia.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is grounded in customary law and Indigenous authority, with leadership and guidance from Melanesian institutions and knowledge holders.
Indigenous leadership is central to the Reserve. It:
By combining cultural knowledge with modern science, the Melanesian Ocean Reserve supports both ecosystem protection and community livelihoods.
Institutions like the Islands Knowledge Institute support research, coordination, and programme delivery.
Indigenous communities will benefit in relevant ways at each level of political organisation: Communities will benefit through:
Activities already being implemented and coordinated within the Melanesian Ocean Reserve through the following paddles:
Indigenous Investment in Sustainable Ocean Economies: The MANA Investment Platform for Indigenous Participation in Sustainable Ocean Value Chains is an example of this paddle. MANA is an investment platform enabling Indigenous Peoples to participate in ocean industries. Initial focus is on supporting resource owners to become investors in upcoming tuna developments.
Sustainable Transport and Reconnection of Island Peoples: The Voyaging, Alliance, Trade, and Autonomy Project (VATA) will demonstrate what this paddle wants to achieve. This transport and movement project is designed to reconnect kin across islands in the Reserve region Implementation work underway and includes a sail-powered trade route linking Honiara, Lata, Sola, and Luganville.
Monitoring and Management of Ocean: The Seascape Oversight & Local Watch for Archipelagic Tracking & Assessment (SOLAWATA) is a real-time ocean monitoring system using AI technology. Building on systems already applied to monitor Solomon Islands’ forests, this approach will combine AI processing, satellite imagery, and public observers aboard vessels to track activity across the Reserve.
Knowing the Ocean through modern science and customary knowledge: A coordinated operational programme is already being developed to establish the Melanesian Ocean Reserve as the world’s premier marine conservation and research destination. The program will integrate traditional Indigenous knowledge systems with cutting-edge scientific research and educational frameworks.
The Reserve does not replace other initiatives. It operates as its own framework for ocean governance, grounded in national approval and active implementation.
Countries may engage in multiple initiatives, but the Melanesian Ocean Reserve remains the primary approved and implemented framework in Solomon Islands.
The Melanesian Ocean Reserve provides an established and active platform for collaboration on ocean governance in Melanesia.
As implementation continues to expand, partners and stakeholders can engage through existing programmes, coordinated government platforms, and regionally aligned initiatives already underway.
The focus is on strengthening what is already being delivered and supporting its continued growth.
The Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI), Noabu Holdings, and Nia Tero have been working together and with the governments involved to support implementation of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve. Each brings complementary strengths to the initiative.
The Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI) is a Melanesian-based think tank and advisory group grounded in Pacific knowledge systems. IKI plays a central role in:
Noabu Holdings (Noabu) is a Melanesian-led organisation with strong networks across Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and the USA. Noabu’s role in the Melanesian Ocean Reserve includes:
Nia Tero is a global facilitator of direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and growing the field of Indigenous Peoples’ guardianship. With regards to the Melanesian Ocean Reserve, Nia Tero supports:
We recognize that other initiatives and organizations, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Blue Nature Alliance, and National Geographic, are contributing to the Melanesian Ocean Reserve through their efforts to advance marine spatial planning and establish marine protected areas. We are eager to involve other non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and others supporting implementation and coordinated delivery of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve.