Marine Atlas: Maximizing Benefits for Kiribati

CONCLUSION

Kiribati’s vast ocean supports a myriad of marine values. To successfully conserve and manage these values, the island nation is committed to holistic planning and effec- tive management to maximize the benefits from its marine resources.

Through valuing, planning and managing the values and benefits of its coastal and marine systems, Kiribati can achieve this. Nevertheless, the experience with MSP shows that only a truly participatory and inclusive process can generate nationwide ownership across sectors. Stakeholders across Kiribati are working together to secure a healthy, productive, resilient and biodiverse ocean for all.

We thank everyone who participated in meetings regarding this atlas and who, through their involvement, contributed input, guidance, data and/or information to this atlas and identified its utility to policy and decision-making (see list of data pro- viders listed in the References).

of Local Government, Housing and Environ- ment, the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests, the Kiribati Bureau of Statistics and other relevant ministries for providing data and support to the project. We are grateful for the contributions of text and graphical elements from the Ocean Atlas 2017 of the Heinrich Böll Foundation to this atlas.

We also thank the professionals of the MACBIO team for their support: Jasha Dehm, Marian Gauna, Eileen Motua, Jimai- ma Le Grand, Jan Steffen, Jonah Sulli- van, Vatu Molisa, Hans Wendt, Lysa Wini, Naushad Yakub; as well as the GRID-Aren- dal team: Kaja Lønne Fjærtoft, Georgios Fylakis, Elsa Lindeval, Petter Sevaldsen and Janet Fernandez Skaalvik.

While the atlas provides the best data currently publicly available, the informa- tion about Kiribati’s waters is constantly increasing. In this way, the atlas is an open invitation to use, modify, combine and up- date the maps and underlying data. The e-copy and interactive version of the Kiribati Marine Atlas are available here: http://macbio-pacific.info/marine-atlas

In particular, we would like to thank the Kiribati Department of the Environment of the Ministry

Timeline of Kiribati Marine Spatial Planning Process

2017 Dialogue among government agencies on ocean governance, MSP and Voluntary Commitments, prior to the United Nations Ocean Conference. Government of Kiribati endorse an atoll- scale MSP to be formulated for Tarawa and Kiritimati island. government officials in Tarawa, resulting in preliminary spatial maps and information to serve as the basis for Tarawa MSP. Cabinet memorandum on officiating the MSP process for Tarawa and Kiritimati islands drafted, submitted by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development and approved by Cabinet. Marine Ecosystem Services Valuation soft launched by Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agriculture Development and featured front page in the local newspaper Uekera. First MSP workshop held and GIS capacity-building provided to key

2018 Scoping exercise for the initiation of MSP process in Kiritimati.

2016 Marine Ecosystem Services Valuation report finalized. Marine Atlas introduced to Kiribati, covering its living and non-living resources.

2015 Existing area-based management tools reviewed.

2014 In-country workshop on marine ecosystems services valuation with key stakeholders to raise awareness among government stakeholders of the relevance of resource and ocean economic values. Discussion with government stakeholders on the MSP process and its living and non-living resources.

Follow-up discussions on the MSP process with Kiribati government.

Open-source GIS software training conducted.

More than 100 open data sets on marine aspects disseminated, and customized national maps for Kiribati shared with key government stakeholders (Departments of Environment, Fisheries, Mineral and Lands and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area Office)

MARINE ATLAS • MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FOR KIRIBATI

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