Jacqueline Evans
About Jacqueline
Jacqueline Evans is one of the Pacific's most recognised conservation leaders. A Cook Islander by heritage, she led the campaign that established Marae Moana, the 1.9-million-square-kilometre multiple-use marine park covering the entirety of the Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone. For that work she received the Goldman Environmental Prize for Oceania in 2019.
She has spent two decades working at the intersection of community-led conservation, customary marine tenure and Pacific Ocean governance — first with Te Ipukarea Society, then as Director of Marae Moana, and now as Pacific Director with the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of PIRT's 16 member organisations.
In 2026, Jacqueline succeeded Margaret West (BirdLife International) as Chair of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation. The Chair is a voluntary role providing overall leadership of the Roundtable partnership across its six Working Groups, the SPREP-hosted Secretariat and the 16 member organisations.
Her Pacific work
Jacqueline's work brings together three threads that run through her keynote at the 11th Conference. First, the Pacific scale — she has consistently argued that ocean-based island nations must be recognised in international biodiversity policy not as small developing states but as large ocean states. Second, customary tenure and community leadership — Marae Moana's success rests on the Cook Islands' traditional institutions, not on imposed governance. Third, the integration of nature-based solutions, marine spatial planning and Pacific cultural practice as one continuous response to the biodiversity and climate crises.
Through her WCS role she leads the regional programme on community-based marine management and the Pacific Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) Network, and is an active contributor to the Pacific Area-based Conservation Network (PACoN).
At the 11th Conference
Jacqueline's opening keynote — "A new Pacific Framework — what 2026–2030 must deliver" — will frame the entire week. She will set out what the next regional Framework needs to achieve, drawing on PIRT's two-year consultation and on the priorities flagged by Pacific governments through SPREP. Expect her to focus on:
- Carrying Vemööre into CBD COP and the IUCN World Conservation Congress as the Pacific's collective voice on biodiversity
- Translating GBF Target 3 (30×30) into Pacific terms — community conservation, customary marine tenure and Locally Managed Marine Areas
- Resourcing the Framework — closing the gap between Pacific ambitions and available finance from Darwin Initiative, Kiwa, Pacific Development & Conservation Trust, GEF and emerging blue-finance partners
- Pacific youth, languages and customary knowledge as core conservation infrastructure — not a side conversation
- The Roundtable's own evolution — what PIRT must look like as a coalition by 2030
She will also chair the Heads of Member organisations plenary on Thursday morning, and will speak briefly at the adoption plenary on Friday 11 September.
"The Pacific has always known nature and people are one. Our task in Noumea is to make sure the next Framework speaks that truth — and brings the resources to deliver it." — Jacqueline Evans, PIRT Chair
