CI launches first Indigenous-led Blue Carbon Initiative in Aotearoa

^{Conservation International Aotearoa team traveled with Māori Iwi leaders to Egypt for COP27 to launch Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative. They took some time out of their schedule to see the majestic pyramids of Giza.}

At the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), CI Aotearoa (New Zealand) launched the Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative, in partnership with Māori tribes, to deliver self-determined and Indigenous- led Ocean climate leadership.

Hinemoana Halo aims to provide a high impact and scalable solution that will value and finance natural climate solutions in Aotearoa, self-determined by Māori, with support from CI. This aims to reconnect the nation to their ocean heritage and legacy as kaitiaki (guardians) of the moana (ocean).

The largest Māori delegation to ever participate in a side event in a Climate COP were present to launch this initiative at a dinner event attended by around 100 people where various films about the initiative were shared, voicing the challenges faced by Māori due to climate change and the need to act.

Hinemoana Halo aims to secure US$ 100 million in the next ten years to seed Aotearoa’s first indigenous-led voluntary blue carbon regime. This will support Māori to directly protect, care, manage and monitor Aotearoa’s coastal waters and high seas – in partnership with local communities – using both traditional approaches and current science. Through investment in coastal and marine solutions, Hinemoana Halo will provide direct benefits to Māori Tribes and coastal communities, from jobs to infrastructure, and promote inter-Indigenous economic relations and trade across Aotearoa and the Pacific. A significant focus of this work will be to establish a marine recovery plan with Māori to accelerate the recovery of populations of taonga (scared) species, from whales to sea lions, dolphins and manta rays.