The Bezos Earth Fund has announced more than $25 million in grants to expand ocean conservation across the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu, covering over 625,000 square miles of Pacific waters.
The funding supports national marine protected areas and some of the world's first conservation proposals under the UN High Seas Treaty, which entered into force in January 2026. Pacific nations helped drive the treaty's adoption, with Palau becoming the first country to ratify it.
In the Cook Islands, the grant to BirdLife International will advance the Cook Islands' Marae Moana marine park — already a pioneering whole-of-ocean protected area of more than 734,000 square miles — through expanded protections, improved monitoring and local leadership support.
Papua New Guinea will work toward its first large-scale offshore marine protected area with Wildlife Conservation Society, while Tonga's grant to TierraMar supports new protected areas and long-term financing to meet its commitment to safeguard 30 percent of its ocean. Tonga's waters serve as critical habitat for humpback whales and other migratory species.
Kiribati and Vanuatu will both receive support from Live & Learn Environmental Education to advance national marine spatial planning, identify priority conservation areas, and develop sustainable financing. Rare will work with Pacific governments on high seas protected area proposals under the new treaty.
"The course is charted. Pacific leaders have set the ambition, and the High Seas Treaty gives us a new way to act together beyond national waters..." said Dr Filimon Manoni, Pacific Ocean Commissioner. "This new support from the Bezos Earth Fund will help OPOC collaborate with partners to support Pacific countries."
The grants form the second round of funding under the Bezos Earth Fund's $100 million commitment to Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity, a Pacific-led initiative to protect at least 30 percent of regional waters by 2030. With this announcement, 17 of the Pacific's 22 countries and territories are now engaged in protection efforts.
"As Small Island States with Large Ocean responsibilities, we are uniquely placed to develop and scale solutions that balance conservation, prosperity and resilience," said Lord Fatafehi Fakafānua, Prime Minister of Tonga.
