Improved Surrounding Ocean Health
How the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge
helps address threats to our ocean
Restored and rewilded islands dramatically benefit the ocean that surrounds them. Island and marine ecosystems flow into one another, with islands sharing nutrients vital to the ocean’s plants and animals. Fish from those oceans feed birds that then travel great distances to deposit the rich nutrients on islands in the form of their guano.
In foregrounding these vital links, the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge maximizes the benefits of these interconnected ecosystems for nature, oceans, and people.
Island-to-ocean restorations benefit coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, and countless other elements of marine ecosystems.
Enhancing Marine Protected Areas
30x30 is a strong and growing global commitment to protect at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. Island-Ocean Connection Challenge partners have set a goal of 40 islands and their interconnected oceans being restored, equitably protected, and effectively managed for future generations to bolster the 30x30 effort and enhance its benefits.
Improving the conservation status of marine protected areas (MPAs) is critical to securing the long-term health of our planet and ensuring sustainability. Because island-marine ecosystems anchor many MPAs, the Challenge prioritizes interventions on globally important islands for biodiversity that either lie within already-established MPAs, combine the restoration of islands with MPA expansions, or include the establishment of new MPAs.
Building Key Partnerships
The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge links terrestrial restoration with marine restoration by acknowledging the deep interconnection between these ecosystems. In doing so, we’re following the lead of Indigenous Peoples, who have long understood and managed their natural resources in the context of island-to-sea connections.
For example, indigenous Hawaiians ensured sustainable natural resources and protection from storms, flooding, and high winds using ancient ahupua‘a (watershed) systems, integrating farming zones, forested areas, and fishponds. The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge prioritizes key local partnerships for an integrated, unified approach. The projects are tailored to each island's unique ecology and the needs of the local communities.
E ho’omaluo: mai ke kuahiwi i ke awawa, mai ke kahakai i ke kai hohonu. (”Conserve: From the mountain peak to the valley so deep, from the seashore to the ocean depths.”) Photo by Andre Raine.
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