At the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Tonga this week, New Zealand’s been talking a big game about a “strong and united Pacific”.
Aside from Winston Peters’ brief foray into climate denialism, New Zealand’s been saying all the right things around supporting Pacific countries in their fight to survive climate change.
In the Pacific, climate change and ocean health are inextricably linked - and when they’re overseas, our Ministers will acknowledge the climate resilience and food security benefits that healthy, protected marine ecosystems provide.
Just last month the Government committed funding to Palau to support the implementation of marine planning, small-scale climate-smart fisheries, and marine protection. Only a month earlier, we saw a cash injection of nearly $50 million to support sustainable fisheries in the Pacific.
So how can our domestic policy be so off-kilter?
Staggeringly, less than one percent of Aotearoa’s ocean territory is highly protected and despite the now perilous state of many marine species, no new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been created in years.
Our once world-leading MPA legislation is no longer fit-for-purpose, and as Oceans and Fisheries Minister, Shane Jones seems resolutely committed to blocking the implementation of new marine protection in the Hauraki Gulf and Otago - two projects that have taken years to develop and are strongly supported by tangata whenua and the wider public.
And perhaps most shockingly given our rhetoric in the Pacific, earlier this year the Coalition Government decided to scrap plans for the Kermadec Rangitāhua Ocean Sanctuary.
This vast protected area would have not only safeguarded around 14 percent of New Zealand’s ocean territory, but it would also have been hugely important for our Pacific partners.
In addition to safeguarding one of the last four remaining ‘pristine’ marine ecosystems left on Earth from indiscriminate and irreversibly destructive practices like deep sea mining and bottom trawling, the Sanctuary would have protected a critical migratory corridor for humpback whales on their annual journey to the South Pacific - and supported what is a huge part of the region’s tourism economy.
At PIF this year, WWF convened a high-level dialogue on protecting and expanding whale migratory routes – also known as ‘blue corridors’.
A range of Pacific and Latin American dignitaries joined us, including the Premier of Niue, the Lord Speaker of Tonga, and the former President of Costa Rica. Often with powerful reference to their own personal experiences with whales, these Leaders made a strong case for protecting and extending whales' migratory routes in the Pacific, and for Pacific Island states to work together to meet the global goal of protecting 30% of our ocean by 2030.
Niue has put itself on the world stage, much like Palau, for its marine conservation efforts. The Pacific nation is one of the first countries to commit to sustainably managing 100 percent of its ocean territory.
These Leaders all demonstrated a strong personal commitment to progressing marine protection.
And they were all clear that if we are to have a healthy ocean for future generations, working regionally is key.
After all, whales don’t recognise the boundaries on maps drawn by humans.
They traverse huge distances on their annual migratory journeys, and in light of the increasing threats to their survival, it’s critical that we work together to ensure they, and other endangered species, have safe havens.
Somehow New Zealand has missed the memo. And it’s starting to get awkward.
As one of the world’s smaller countries in the world with one of the world’s largest Exclusive Economic Zones, New Zealand has a duty - both moral and assumed, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - to protect and sustainably manage our ocean territory. This is a responsibility not only to Kiwis, but to our Pacific neighbours, and the rest of the world.
New Zealand committed to create a global network of MPAs covering 30 percent of oceans by 2030 when we adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the UN High Seas Treaty.
But with our continued backpedaling on marine conservation and in the absence of the creation of large, highly protected MPAs like the Rangitāhua Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, we’re just spouting empty promises.
On the ground at PIF this week, I’ve seen a clear appetite to advance regional cooperation on marine protection in the Pacific. And I’ve seen the incredible work that other Pacific countries are already doing to establish large, highly protected MPAs.
New Zealand’s continued inaction is embarrassing, and our obvious hypocrisy in supporting marine protection and climate action in the Pacific whilst going backwards at home has been widely remarked upon in Nuku’alofa this week.
In time, our Government’s strategy of ‘not walking our talk’ will come to undermine the respected place we’ve long held within the Pacific community.