Our Trustees

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Jacqui has worked over thirty years to protect the health of the marine environment in the Cook Islands through science, policy development, community empowerment and advocacy. She has worked alongside traditional leaders on Rarotonga to re-establish traditional marine protected area practices after they were abandoned for forty years.  She also had a central role in the establishment of Marae Moana, the Cook Islands Marine Park covering more than 700,000 square miles of the South Pacific ocean. Jacqui has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies (biology emphasis) from the University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji and a Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. She has won several scholarships and awards including a 3-year East West Center Pacific Islands Development Program scholarship, the USP Prem Prasad Prize for the most outstanding student in Geography at USP, the 2001 Cook Islands BPWA Woman of the Year for the Environment Award and the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize. 

Ian is a Cook Islands traditional leader, conservationist and Polynesian voyager. Ian has worked over 24 years in the mountains of the Takitumu Conservation Area, Rarotonga to save the endangered Rarotonga Flycatcher from extinction. Together with scientists Dr Hugh Robertson and Edward Saul, they brought the population of flycatchers from 29 individuals (globally) in 1989 to more than 400 birds today. He is President of the Cook Islands Voyaging Society and has travelled to multiple islands in the Pacific on ocean voyaging canoes, namely Marumaru Atua and Te Au O Tonga. He has served on a multitude of Cook Islands community groups and held executive positions on boards including chair of the Rarotonga Environment Authority, Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Cook Islands Library and Museum Society, Banana Court Ltd and Tupapa Maraerenga Rugby Club. Ian is winner of the Pacific Island Environment Leadership Award for Excellence in National Leadership in Environmental Sustainability and Conservation. He is a chiefly titleholder of the Ngati Makea tribe and a family member of Ngati Karika on Rarotonga.  

Marino is one of three Trustees representing youth. He is a videographer, photographer and ocean advocate from the Cook Islands. A free-diver and kite surfer, he was born and raised in the Cook Islands with the ocean as his playground. Marino has completed a Bachelor of Screen Arts at Auckland Unitec winning two scholarship awards to fund his study. He also holds a Diploma in Aeronautics from Polytechnic West, Australia. Marino is passionate about protecting the ocean and finding new ways to communicate its values. He has assisted organizations as a Research Assistant, Director of Photography and Camera Operator including for Sharks Pacific, National Geographic Pristine Seas and companies in the New Zealand film industry.

Vaea is a businesswoman and Director of Island Craft Ltd, the oldest and most successful manufacturer of Cook Islands arts and craft. She has 25 years experience in management and board governance. She has held the positions of Executive Member of the Board of Governors at Te Uki Ou School and the Miss Cook Islands Pageant and with her husband Fletcher Melvin, co-managed the Pacific pavilion at the 1998 World Expo in Portugal. From 2010 to 2015 she was the Event Coordinator for Vaka Iti Canoeing, an annual school event. She is an ocean paddler and coach of outrigger canoe paddling for youth and women on Rarotonga. Vaea is a Tahitian and Cook Islands cultural dancer and teacher of the French language; she worked for the Cook Islands chapter of the Alliance Francaise from 1997-2001.    

Jacqueline is the second of three Trustees representing youth. She is an attorney who has worked in private law firms in the Cook Islands and Perth, Australia. As a child she attended Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa in Aotearoa (New Zealand) where she gained knowledge about Māori culture and fluency in Māori language. She completed senior high school in the Cook Islands where she experienced her Cook Islands heritage. Jacqueline is an advocate of good health, environmental protection and sustainable living. She models a plant-based, environmentally conscious and active lifestyle to encourage those around her to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. Jacqueline is currently living in Aotearoa to begin her journey in Māori and Pacific youth development and transformative social change for Māori and Pacific Island communities. 

Miriama is the third Trustee representing youth. She is an artist, drawing inspiration from the land and oceans surrounding her homeland. Born in Rarotonga, Miri is a cultural dancer, free-diver and hiker of Rarotonga’s mountains. Miri believes that with the awareness of navigating our natural environment, islanders throughout the Pacific can relearn and connect to the energy of the land, ocean and wind. She advocates the concept that what we consume– food, water, and our thoughts – all contribute to our well-being and output.