A Niue idea: this island is selling sea plots in the name of conservation

You may not have heard of the small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, but Niue (pronounced “new-way”) holds a claim to fame for being one of the world’s largest raised coral atolls, a coral reef that has formed on top of an underwater volcanic peak.

Niue is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand with a population of about 1,700. It has a marine territory 1,200 times larger than its 261km² land mass and apart from its pristine coral reefs, it is rich in marine life and undersea mountains. Its largely undisturbed waters also offer sanctuary to whale, dolphin, turtle and shark species.

Like many island countries in Polynesia, it has rich marine, ecological and cultural significance, but it’s battling the effects of climate change and struggling to find the finance to assist it, a situation worsened when the Covid-19 pandemic halted travel to the island.

To mitigate these problems, the island nation has decided to start selling sea plots to donors who would like to assist with the protection of its ocean territory.

In September, Niue’s premier Dalton Tagelagi launched the country’s Ocean Conservation Commitments (OCC) programme to secure long-term protection of its waters.

As a philanthropic mechanism, the programme has made available 127,000 OCCs for sponsorship. The cost of sponsoring one OCC is US$148 (R2,768) which will be held by the Niue Ocean Wide (NOW) Trust, a charitable trust, and will ensure the protection of 1km² of Niue’s ocean for up to 20 years.

The country is hoping to raise $18m (R336.7m) by seeking sponsors for the sea plots and has received pledges from private donors and NGOs after announcing its OCC programme.

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