Today Easter Island has an Integrated Management Plan that protects its marine resources, strengthens local governance and deeply respects the worldview of the Rapa Nui people.
The Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Julio Salas, commented that "what we value most at Subpesca is the respect and perseverance with which this process has been developed. Respect, because it has been given in two dimensions. First, respect for the culture, traditions, and rights that they have as a Rapa Nui community. And, by the way, also the respect to the norms, to the public institutionality, that has been able to converse through this process, which is difficult".
In addition, the Ministry of the Environment, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service and the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Blue Nature Alliance (BNA), an organization that collaborates with governments, NGOs, indigenous peoples and the scientific community to promote effective large-scale ocean conservation.
The president of the Board of Directors, Felipe Nahoe, acknowledged that "the most important thing about this was to approve the Integrated Management Plan for the island's Marine Protected Areas. I am happy to be able to go to the island with my plan in hand and show the community that I have the formal decree.
This new plan began to take shape in 2019, following a series of workshops to identify local needs and prioritize actions. Subsequently, between 2022 and 2023, the document was reviewed in detail with the community, consolidating a legitimate and representative instrument.
Working together
In this way, a historic step was taken for the protection of the island's marine protected areas, thanks to a widely participatory process, framed in ILO Convention 169, which even included an indigenous consultation, culminating in an unprecedented simultaneous vote in Rapa Nui, Santiago and Valparaiso, where 86% of the Rapa Nui community voted in favor of the plan, validating the collective work and commitment to marine conservation.
After years of work between ministries, public services and the community, the Integrated Management Plan for the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) of Rapa Nui was approved , an instrument that will strengthen the management and administration of conservation areas through a co-governance led by the inhabitants of Easter Island. As a result, Chile now leads in the coverage of marine protected areas with a Management Plan in force.
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