The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean of 169 islands (36 inhabited) that has an exclusive economic zone of about 660,000 km2. MSP is well underway in Tonga. A decision was taken by Cabinet in 2015 to prepare a marine spatial plan. A cross-government MSP Technical Working Group has been established comprised of seven ministries, known locally as the “Ocean Seven”. The Working Group has prepared a work plan through 2020, defined a vision and MSP objectives (including climate change resilience), a public engagement strategy (three rounds of consultation), collated spatial data, identified seven types of ocean zones, and described priority marine places.
Supported by the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific Island Countries (MACBIO) project being implemented by Pacific Island countries, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and IUCN-Oceania with support from SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme). Financial support is from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.
Updates will be posted on this website as MSP activities in Tonga develop.