The Sea Women of Melanesia, honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, train local women to monitor and assess the impacts of widespread coral bleaching on some of the world’s most endangered reefs using marine science and technology. The Sea Women of Melanesia, a group of divers who give women in the South Pacific region the skills to monitor the health of coral reefs, and create and restore marine protected areas, have been named Champions of the Earth, the UN’s highest environmental award, in the Inspiration and Action category. To most people, fins, masks and neoprene wetsuits are recreational gear. But to the non-profit group, they are the tools of change. The Sea Women work in what’s known as the Coral Triangle, which covers some 5.7 million square kilometres between the Great Barrier Reef and the island archipelagos of Melanesia and South East Asia. Brimming with marine life, it is one of the world’s premier destinations for underwater tourism and home to a major fisheries industry. It is also exceptionally threatened by surging human populations and waste levels. The good news is that coral reefs are resilient and can recover if the marine environment is safeguarded. The Sea Women initiative, which has worked across the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea since 2018, supports marine protected areas in the two countries, to ensure there is abundant fish life for villagers to rely on in future. Read the full story on the Sea Women’s work, here.
Clad in diving gear, the group’s 30-plus members chart the health of the fragile coral reefs that surround Melanesia.Champions of the Earth
