2 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Pacific island nations tap indigenous know-how to safeguard ocean health
Pacific island nations are racing to enhance marine conservation , establishing sweeping 'no-take' zones and pledging to sustainably manage vast swathes of their territorial waters despite facing limited resources and geopolitical pressure.
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Among them,
Samoa last month unveiled a ban on fishing, mining and other extractive activities over 30 per cent of its ocean territory by 2027. The move will create 36,000 sq km (13,900 square miles) of marine protected areas (MPAs) – more than 12 times the country's land size.
'Like other Pacific island nations, challenges like marine habitat destruction, overfishing, and pollution threaten the health of Samoa's ocean, which endanger the well-being of our people,' Toeolesulusulu Cedric Pose Salesa Schuster, Samoa's natural resources and environment minister, told This Week in Asia.
'Samoa's marine spatial plan addresses these urgent issues and offers solutions to sustain the ocean and what it provides for us now and for future generations.'
Such planning has become increasingly common across the Pacific, even as global progress on the so-called '30x30' pledge – to protect 30 per cent of Earth's land and ocean area by 2030 – has slowed.
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