{"id":4192,"date":"2025-06-04T02:05:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T02:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/?p=4192"},"modified":"2025-07-09T04:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T04:46:07","slug":"samoa-marine-saptial-plan-2025-2035","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/?p=4192","title":{"rendered":"Samoa Marine Spatial Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]Joint Media Release – Samoa Legally Protects 30% and Sustainably Manages 100% of its Ocean \nSamoa becomes one of the first Pacific nations to legally protect 30% of its ocean, ahead of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.\n\nSamoa became one of the first Pacific Island nations to adopt a legally binding Marine Spatial Plan \u2014 a milestone step to fully protect 30% and ensure sustainable management of 100% of its vast ocean 120,000-square-kilometer ocean territory.\n\nThe adoption of the plan under the Lands, Survey and Environment Act 1989 was endorsed by Samoa\u2019s Cabinet, setting a global blueprint for how large ocean states can sustainably manage their ocean and their resources.\nHon. Toeolesulsulu Cedric Pose Salesa Schuster, Samoa\u2019s Minister for Natural Resources and Environment announced the legal adoption of the plan, stating, \u201cSamoa is a large ocean state, and our way of life is under increased threat from climate change, overfishing, habitat degradation and more. This Marine Spatial Plan marks a historic step towards ensuring that our ocean remains prosperous and healthy to support future generations of Samoans\u2012just as it did for us and our ancestors.\u201d\nThe Marine Spatial Plan includes the establishment of nine new fully protected Marine Protected Areas, covering 36,000 square kilometers of ocean. It integrates traditional management systems by incorporating existing nearshore community-managed areas such as Fish Reserves and District MPAs, ensuring these culturally important practices are preserved and strengthened.\nTraditional knowledge and the best available science together with input from stakeholders and communities from across 185 communities guided and shaped the Plan. Its implementation will be led by the MNRE in close collaborations with other Ministries and national and local stakeholders.\nLeilani Duffy-Iosefa, Country Director of Conservation International Samoa, emphasized the importance of Samoa\u2019s legal commitment and the broader implications for global marine governance, \u201cThis example shows what true delivery and accountability look like and Conservation International is excited to continue the partnership to support Samoa\u2019s goals to protect 30% and sustainably manage 100% of its ocean.”\nDr. Kathryn Mengerink, Executive Director of the Waitt Institute, acknowledged Samoa\u2019s leadership and the significance of this achievement in the global context, \u201cToday, Samoa has established itself as a leader in sustainable ocean management. We are proud to support Samoa\u2019s visionary leadership and decisive action towards securing a healthy ocean, thriving communities, and a prosperous future for its people and the planet.\u201d\nThe legal establishment of Samoa\u2019s Marine Spatial Plan comes ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference taking place this June in France. The conference, aptly themed \u201cAccelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean,\u201d will provide a platform for Samoa to inspire countries across the globe to advance their ocean protection targets as the deadline for the 30×30 conservation goals rapidly approaches. \nEND.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joint Media Release – Samoa Legally Protects 30% and Sustainably Manages 100% of its Ocean Samoa becomes one of the first Pacific nations to legally protect 30% of its ocean, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-post","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4192"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5095,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192\/revisions\/5095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mnre.gov.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}