PROGRAM
PARTNERS
The Independent State of Samoa has partnered with the Waitt Institute through the Blue Prosperity Coalition and Conservation International to protect 30% of its ocean area and support the implementation of the Samoa Ocean Strategy (SOS). The SOS will continue to build partnerships with local, regional and international partners to accomplish the complex tasks outlined in the SOS for the protection of Samoa’s ocean and building sustainable blue economies.
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OUR
TEAM
Iemaima Vaai
Program Communications Associate
Iemaima Vaai recently moved home to Samoa and works for Conservation International Samoa as the Program Communications Associate for the Samoa Ocean Strategy (SOS). In this role, she supports the SOS secretariat in effectively communicating the SOS's goals, progress, and value through various platforms and events, ensuring consistent messaging and wide public engagement.
She is of Samoan descent, has an academic background in climate change and environmental management, and specializes in loss and damage. She has experience in climate-induced displacement and relocation in the Pacific and its relation to loss of culture, identity, and indigenous knowledge.
She is an ecological stewardship and climate justice activist at heart. She has formerly worked and volunteered in and out of the NGO—non-profit space in Fiji, working on climate justice, conservation, decolonization, the revival of Indigenous knowledge, community engagement and resilience, and youth empowerment.
She has a passion for Pacific Indigenous philosophy and knowledge. Her recent publications intersect with "Rethinking\Reweaving Sustainable Development Frameworks" and "Loss and Damage: Implications of Migration on the Young Pacific Diaspora Community." Her aspiration as a young activist is to seek climate solutions and amplify Pacific community resilience by reviving traditional knowledge and indigenous eco-relational philosophies as an avenue for sustainable development.
Danita Strickland
Marine Programme Manager | Conservation International
Danita Strickland is from Samoa and is working as the Marine Programme Manager with Conservation International Pacific Island Programme based in Samoa. In this role she helps support the Samoa Ocean Strategy.
She has an academic background in geography from the University of Otago in New Zealand and conservation and development from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. Her dissertation focused on evaluating the performance of Samoa's first national multi-sectoral project addressing land degradation.
Danita has also completed the Pacific Island Conservation Co-management Course at the University of the South Pacific. Her research there explored the underlying factors and values that move individuals to engage in ocean management through marine protected areas.
PROGRAM
GOVERNANCE
The National Ocean Steering Committee (NOSC) is established to provide high level advisory role and decision making in the coordination and implementation of all thematic areas and integrated management solutions for the SOS.
Members
1. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE)
2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)
3. Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
4. Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure (MWTI)
5. Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF)
6. Office of the Attorney General (OAG)
7. Ministry of Police (MOP)
8. Samoa Umbrella for Non-Governmental Organisations (SUNGO)
Observers
A body or agency who is not a NOSC member may be represented at the meeting by observers who shall have the right to participate in an advisory role in the plenary sessions, but not to engage in any decision making.
1. National University of Samoa (NUS)
2. Conservation International (CI)
3. Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
WORKING
GROUPS
The NOSC is supported by two Working Groups composed of technical officials of Ministries, inter-governmental and non-governmental agencies approved by the NOSC to provide technical support to inform the coordination and implementation of the Strategy on the ground.
Governance and Policies Working Group
Supports Integrated Management Solutions numbers 1, 3, 6, 9, 11
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Co-Chairs – ACEO MPMC and MNRE
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Membership: MNRE, MFAT, MPMC, MWTI, MAF, MOF, STA, CI, SPREP
Technical Working Group
Supports Integrated Management Solutions numbers 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13
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Co-Chairs – ACEO MAF and NUS
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Membership: MESC, MWTI, MCIT, NUS, MNRE, MAF, MFAT, STA, MWCSD, FESA, CI, SPREP