Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance or IPCA, is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, that seeks to protect plant and animal diversity in wilderness areas and marine regions in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, including Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Establishment

IPCA was founded in 1998 in collaborative association with scientists at the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, and other institutions. It was established to act in alliance with, and to work through, existing in-country institutions as much as possible in order to reduce costs and build local capacity.

Activities

Its main programs are currently based in the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n province of Papua (western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

), working with local communities such as the Asmat to help them achieve sustainable development and protect their

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s and

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. IPCA provides information, training, equipment and other support to stakeholders to help them conserve and manage their natural resources. IPCA also carries out scientific surveys to document biodiversity, how local people value and use those resources, and how it is impacted by threats such as commercial

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

, and

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

Mission statement

''The Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance is dedicated to the study and conservation of the native ecosystems of the tropical Indo-Pacific region and support for traditional peoples in their stewardship of these globally significant natural resources.''

Administration

John Burke Burnett has served as the Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance's Executive Director since its founding. Dr. Allen Allison of the

is Chairman.

External links

Official site
* ttp://www.bishopmuseum.org Bishop Museumbr>Pacific Science Association
Scientific societies based in the United States Environmental organizations based in Hawaii {{int-org-stub