Healthy Oceans Depend on Healthy Islands

Outsized benefits of
the IOCC

The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC): A global initiative by Island Conservation, Re:wild, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The IOCC is a volunteer collective of NGOs, governments, funders, scientists, individuals, and island communities dedicated to restoring and rewilding 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems by 2030.

Indigenous wisdom and emerging science

Indigenous Peoples and island communities have long understood and managed their natural resources in the context of island-to-sea connections.

Island and marine ecosystem elements cycle into one another, sharing nutrients vital to the plants and animals within them. Fish from the oceans feed birds that travel great distances to remote islands. Those birds deposit nutrients on islands, creating flourishing vegetation and feeding nutrients back into ocean habitats, plants, and animals. The entire process then begins again.

Our Projects

News

Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island and Peru’s Chincha Norte Island Join Global Challenge for a Healthy Ocean

The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC) announced today at the United Nations Ocean Conference the addition of two new islands—Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, and Chincha Norte, Peru, in the Guano Islands—to its ambitious campaign. The addition of these islands brings the total number of IOCC projects to 22. 

Our Partners

Project Partners & Funders

American Bird Conservancy
BirdLife South Africa
Charles Darwin Foundation
Cookson Adventures
Danny Faure Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Ebiil Society (Palau)
Global Island Partnership (GLISPA)
Government of Chile
Government of the Dominican Republic
Government of Ecuador
Government of the Marshall Islands
Government of Palau
Government of Panama
Island Conservation
The Katherine and Peter Dolan Family Foundation
Leo Model Foundation
Marisla Foundation
The Mouse-Free Marion Project

North Equity Foundation
Ocean Finance Company
Oceankind
Rare
Re:wild
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Société d’Ornithologie de Polynésie (Manu)
Sonsorol State, Palau
Wanderlust Fund