Traditional voyaging canoes from five countries will now be part of a spectacular armada making a journey from Cook Islands to Australia.

The four-month journey will end with a grand entrance into Sydney Harbour in November to coincide with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World 2014 Parks Congress.

Originally a deal with the Fiji Voyaging Society’s Uto Ni Yalo Trust, additions to the fleet from other Pacific nations wanting to join the voyage have been announced at the International Sea Transport Talanoa, which is taking place in Suva this week.

IUCN’s Regional Director Oceania, Taholo Kami, told Pacific Beat that voyaging societies from Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand will be taking part as well.

“The whole idea is that in August it will have to be, the Cook Islands canoe, sails to the SIDS meeting, the Small Island Developing States meeting in Samoa,” he said.

“They are expecting 3000 to 4000 people to come to discuss small island issues.

“They will also meet the Hokule’a and Hikianalia, the Hawaiian canoes, that are doing their global journey with this messaging on oceans and climate change.”

The Hawaiian vessels are due in Rarotonga for Te Maeva Nui constitution celebrations, starting on July 28.

Kami says the aim is to put Pacific issues on the map and highlight the message from the Pacific.

“The message, it is climate change, and it is about oceans, and healthy oceans.

“The special thing about Pacific peoples and the whole impact of climate change, and oceans and our people, and saying to the world, you need spaces like ours – marine and terrestrial protected areas – for every China, for every Africa, you need big healthy spaces like this in a climate challenged world.”

For the voyagers, the commitment is significant.

“It will take probably half a million dollars to get those canoes sailing,” Kami said.

“We are fortunate that they are available to be sailed, the crews are enthusiastic, but in terms of just logistics and planning each leg of the journey it is quite a task.

“We have got a team full-time, planning all these things here in Fiji.”

The epic voyage will start from the Cook Islands with one vaka and another will join the fleet in Samoa.

“Then there will be two canoes leaving Samoa. Come to Fiji, a third canoe joins, and they go to Vanuatu and then across from Vanuatu to Brisbane,” Kami said.

“And then, hopefully, bouncing all along the coast until they get to Sydney, then waiting just outside Sydney Harbour until the World Parks Congress begins.”

The World Parks Congress is held just once every 10 years and the voyaging canoes hope to make quite an impact on the 3000 delegates at Homebush.

“Some of the biggest commitments of protected areas in history have been made from here in Oceania,” Kami said.

“From what Australia has declared – to what Pacific Island leaders of Palau, Kiribati, Cook Islands, 50 per cent of their EEZ), Noumea, New Caledonia, 100 per cent of the EEZ.

“So some big, big commitments have been made that we see has global benefit.

“So part of the messaging is coming out and saying in spite of the threats of climate change, some of the biggest commitments being made are coming from leaders of these very small countries.

“And just the call to the world for more action on climate change, and a call for more action towards healthy oceans.”

The IUCN World Parks Congress is a landmark global forum about protected areas are held once every ten years.

It will bring together around 3000 people from over 160 countries, and reach out globally to look at proven approaches for protected areas governance and management.

“The people of the Pacific Islands have a unique perspective to bring to the Congress, reflecting the distinctive nature of the region and its importance to the planet,” Tony O’Keeffe, Protected Areas Coordinator, BIOPAMA Programme, at IUCN Oceania, said.

“The Pacific contains big ocean states but small island communities. These communities are guided by ancient traditional knowledge that provides the cultural tools to be resilient in the face of the impact of climate change.

“It is important that the value of the region’s oceans, and the need to protect these large ocean spaces in the context of climate change, is recognised.

“Pacific islanders have an intimate connection with their seas and land and continue to find respectful and resourceful ways to sustain the natural places that they directly rely on for their livelihood and future.

“The rest of the world is also increasingly dependent on the natural bounty of the region and Pacific peoples want others to understand the importance of treating these natural resources very wisely.

“These, and other important messages, will be skilfully conveyed to the world aboard the voyaging canoes – it’s a beautiful and fitting way of drawing attention to the way the Pacific region values its important natural places and aspires to manage them.”

This significant voyage will convey regional messages about the critical need to respect and protect important natural places, and continues the ‘Pacific Voyage: One Pacific Voice’ campaign, originally initiated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.