The Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (VEPA) in Tonga was tonight named the inaugural winner of the PRISMSS Restoring Island Resilience Award, a recognition organisers say highlights the rising threat invasive species pose to Pacific food security, biodiversity and community resilience. The award ceremony, held last night, also singled out five other Pacific civil society groups for their work tackling invasive plants and animals across the region.
Speaking after the win, VEPA representative Talita Morley said the organisation will use the award funding to scale up response work and broaden its outreach beyond Vava’u. “We’re planning to expand to reach out to other island groups in Tonga, not only our island groups, but the main islands. We’ve already expanded to Ha’apai, because our agriculture has been harmed by these invasive plants, so we need to get rid of it,” Morley said, stressing that immediate action is required to protect food production and livelihoods on smaller islands.
Morley also used the platform to underline the social dimensions of invasive species work, calling for greater inclusion of women and young people in conservation efforts. “As a woman, if I can do it, they can do it. This work is not only for men, we as teenagers and youths can stand up for our communities and culture, and fight to protect our environment and our endemic species,” she said, signalling VEPA’s intent to combine ecological control with community empowerment.
Regional experts at the event framed invasive species management as integral to wider climate resilience and economic stability. David Moverley, Invasive Species Adviser with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), told the gathering that the benefits of tackling invasives extend beyond conservation. “Not just for tourism, but also for climate change adaptation, we’ve been promoting this work internationally, regionally, and within countries. Events like this help civil society organisations showcase their work at the national level,” Moverley said, emphasising the multiplier effects of coordinated management.
Six Pacific organisations were recognised at the PRISMSS Restoring Island Resilience Awards for their frontline work in protecting biodiversity and strengthening resilience. Alongside Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (Tonga), the honourees were Nature Fiji-Mareqeti Viti (Fiji), Niue Ocean Wide Trust (Niue), Samoa Conservation Society (Samoa), Société d’Ornithologie de Polynésie (French Polynesia) and Te Ipukarea Society (Cook Islands).
Organisers said the inaugural awards aim to boost visibility and funding for grass‑roots efforts that often form the first line of defence against invasive species across the Pacific’s dispersed islands. Invasive plants and animals are widely considered by Pacific governments and conservationists to be among the most severe environmental threats to island ecosystems, undermining crops, displacing native species and eroding the natural systems communities rely on for food and coastal protection.
VEPA’s win comes as calls mount for stronger regional collaboration, sustained financing and local capacity-building to confront invasive species before their impacts become irreversible. With the award money earmarked for rapid expansion of outreach and response in Tonga’s outer islands and main islands alike, VEPA officials say the prize will mean more on‑the‑ground action to protect farmers, shorelines and native habitats.
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