For a little under $150, you can now directly sponsor marine conservation across one square kilometer of the Pacific Ocean, through a novel scheme announced this week by the tiny island of Niue.
Located halfway between Fiji and the Cook Islands, the vast waters of the “Rock of Polynesia” are home to coral reefs and undersea mountains that host diverse species, including sharks, dolphins, turtles, and more.
However finding the resources to protect these habitats from the threats of illegal fishing, climate change, and pollution has proven challenging for one of the world’s smallest self-governing nations.
“We’ve been going to conferences for so long, telling our story, but it seemed like we weren’t getting anywhere,” Niue’s Premier Dalton Tagelagi told reporter in an interview at the United Nations headquarters in New York, adding he had come to view summits as “talkfests with no action.”
Under the new plan, companies, philanthropies, and individuals can pay 250 New Zealand dollars (US $149) to protect and manage one or more square kilometers of water, called Ocean Conservation Commitments (OCCs).
There are 127,000 OCCs in total, corresponding to the size in square kilometers of Niue’s “no-take” protected marine zone, which represents 40 percent of its overall sovereign waters.
Niue is thus hoping to raise $18 million through the initiative, which covers a period of 20 years.
“It’s very exciting,” said Tagelagi, adding that the government itself was sponsoring 1,700 units, one for each of the island’s residents.