Melanesian Ocean Melanesian Ocean Reserve PressKit

Overview

At the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, which took place in Nice, France, from 9 – 13 June, 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 its protection will secure the economic and cultural vitality of hundreds of distinct Indigenous Peoples while furthering global climate, biodiversity, and ocean goals. This will be the first Indigenous-led, multi-national ocean reserve on Earth. When complete, the Melanesian Ocean Reserve is expected to span over 6,000,000 square kilometers. It will operate across the combined national waters and Economic Exclusive Zones of the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

• Press Release: Link to Press Release issued on September 10, 2025
• Press Contact: press@melanesianoceareserve.org

Key Points

• The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will be the first Indigenous-led, multi-national ocean reserve on Earth.
• The Solomon Islands are willing to commit to contributing all their archipelagic waters and areas beyond to a new Melanesian Ocean Reserve in which only sustainable economic activities consistent with Indigenous values will be permitted.
• Although the formal announcement was made by the governments of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, the governments of Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia also anticipate joining the Melanesian Ocean Reserve.
• On 10 September at the Pacific Island Forum in Honiara, the Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. Bradley Tovosia, and the Minister for Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Hon. Polycarp Paea, provided an update regarding the establishment of the Reserve.
• The management of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve aspires to be built on Indigenous Peoples’ governance, management practices, and relationship to place. It will be informed by lessons from marine spatial planning efforts in the region and supported by increased philanthropic and government investments in ocean management.
• The Melanesian Ocean Reserve partners share a commitment to encouraging sustainable industries and enhancing monitoring and enforcement.
• The initiative will contribute to lasting ecological resilience and sustainable economic benefits for Ocean Peoples and marine ecosystems. 

Leadership & Partners

The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will establish a Ministerial Platform to assist with advancing discussions with partner nations on the MOR Declaration and to engage with development partners for financial support.

• The Melanesian Ocean Reserve is the brainchild of two highly respected Indigenous leaders who met for the first time and began sketching out the MOR blueprint at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Cali, Colombia, in 2024:
  
  - The Honorable Trevor Mahaga, the Solomon Islands’ Minister for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology.

  - The Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geo-Hazards and Disaster Management

  - Ministers Mahaga and Regenvanu fleshed out the Melanesian Ocean Reserve concept with The Honourable Jelta Wong,

• Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, with the support of nonprofits Nia Tero and Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI).
• Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI), an Indigenous-led organisation in the Solomon Islands, has been the primary incubator of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve initiative, supporting the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in shaping their vision.
• Nia Tero has been asked to serve as the lead NGO partner for this initiative. In the past eight years, Nia Tero has become one of the world’s largest global facilitators of direct funding to Indigenous Peoples.

Spokesperson

To request an interview with the people below, please contact: press@melanesianoceanreserve.org.

• The Honorable Ralph Regenvanu (Uripiv of Malakua Island) is Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geo-Hazards, and Disaster Management. Regenvanu is an artist, anthropologist, and politician who has been a leading architect of Vanuatu’s cultural renaissance. Regenvanu entered the Vanuatu Parliament in 2008 as an Independent, launching the Land and Justice Party in 2010, and he has served in various capacities in succeeding coalition governments. His focus areas include climate change and international support for the right of self-determination for the peoples of West Papua. He is a noted longtime advocate of the application and evolution of customary law, including around Indigenous land rights. His work in the region has included co-founding the Pacific Islands Museum Association (1994), co-founding and spearheading the Fest’Napuan annual music festival (from 1996), and co-founding the Melanesia Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (2009). He has worked extensively with UNESCO and the global community of museums.

Quotes for Press

• “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 honors our identities, livelihoods, and spiritual connections.” - The Honorable Jeremiah Manele, Solomon Islands Prime Minister.
• “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. We hope our Indigenous stewardship of this vast reserve will create momentum for similar initiatives all over the world.”- The Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Meteorology, Geohazards, Environment and Disaster Management for the Republic of Vanuatu.
• “The Melanesian Ocean Reserve has progressed from an idea to a powerful platform amongst 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. Edgar Pollard, Islands Knowledge Institute Director
• “What the leaders of the Melanesian Ocean Reserve are doing is 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 our planet, in the way it deserves.” - ‘Aulani Wilhelm, Nia Tero CEO

Press Images + Captions/Credits