Solutions & Good News Active Updated Aug 18, 2026

Rapa Nui's indigenous-run ocean reserve

A newly formed marine protected area of more than a quarter-million square miles around Easter Island gives the island's indigenous Rapa Nui people a governing majority over waters that may hold undocumented whale breeding grounds. The stakes are whether ranger patrols and enforcement funding can actually rebuild fish and whale populations across a reserve this size, and whether the indigenous-majority governance model gets copied elsewhere.