PEGASuS: Managing Ocean Change and Food Security:Implementing Palau’s National Marine Sanctuary

One of the most acute challenges for ocean nations and coastal communities is food security, including sustaining wild capture fisheries in a time of rapid and profound change in the oceans and in the global food sector. Palau’s commitment to protect ocean ecosystems and resources for its people, demonstrated in a 2020 policy to close 80% of its EEZ, provides an unprecedented opportunity to take a systems approach to tackling this complex and urgent challenge. The Government of Palau has asked us to convene a working group to synthesize existing research and create a portfolio of policy and management options supporting food security and marine resource sustainability in the context of the new closure. The proposed working group will be guided by a policy committee of ministers and other senior government policymakers from Palau and other Pacific Island nations to ensure that its work meets the needs and priorities of government decision-making and develops avenues for impact at scale, within the broader western Pacific region.