Pacific Voyagers

Encompassing about one-third of the earth’s surface and constituting half of the global hydrosphere (all the waters of the earth's surface), the Pacific is an important factor in climate control. Many species of animals and plants occur only there, either in the Pacific itself or on its islands. Moreover, approximately one billion people live in close proximity to the ocean and make their living from it. As a habitat, the Pacific is under special threats from climate change, exploitation, and diverse forms of pollution.

For a long time now, Dieter Paulmann has been looking for the right way to raise awareness about these problems, which will affect all of us, landing on our collective doorsteps, whether we like it or not. Finding this way has been a journey in itself until he finally met the wise and spiritual people of the Pacific who are following in the wake of their ancestors, reviving their ancestors' wisdom and their respect for the sea. By helping these people to spread their knowledge about traditional navigation, used by their ancestors to populate the Pacific thousands of years ago, we also found a way to help the ocean. This traditional knowledge includes awareness about the healing, spiritual forces of the sea, about the ocean's generosity in feeding us, and about the close connection every living being on earth has to the sea. Contained within this knowledge is therefore the respect and the love for the sea, which is necessary to treat the sea in the right way. We are still learning from these people every day, for which we are grateful and humbled.

Vaka Moana © Murray Watson

This is the key to our project. Our aim is to bring this wisdom, and the attendant respect and love for the ocean to the world. Seven traditional canoes, called 'Vaka Moana', have been built in Aotearoa (New Zealand). They are powered by the wind and sun alone — the only engine onboard is solar-powered. The food on board is about 90% of organic origin; the detergent, the soap, and the shampoo on board have been carefully chosen to be environmentally-friendly.

The vaka are crewed by people from all over the Pacific, people who have seen with their own eyes, changes in their home islands, people who are living every day according to the wisdom of their ancestors, people who are already taking care of the ocean by working for an NGO, people who are educating children, and people who love the sea. These vaka are now a metaphor for a sustainable way of life.

In 2011 the vaka undertook a voyage from Aotearoa to Hawai'i and, beyond that, to the West Coast of the States. In January 2012 they have started once more and now return via various countries and islands such as Mexico and the Galapagos Islands, and will finally end their voyage in July in the Solomon Islands where they are going to participate in the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts.

In June 2011, the crew participated in our Kava Bowl Ocean Summit in Hawai'i, to contribute their knowledge and experiences, as well as to learn from others about the ocean. As they traveled to California, they talked about all they have learned, their voyaging traditions, their love for the ocean, and the problems we will all be facing, if we don't change our behaviour now. Read more about the whole project at www.pacificvoyagers.org.

This voyage is the topic of our film project with the working title "Our Blue Canoe". Its aim is to generate interest in the ocean and to raise awareness among people about its long-term problems.

We are also funding a study led by the Stockholm Environment Institute in cooperation with scientists throughout the world, called “How much is the Ocean worth to you?” which considers especially the Pacific and its problems, as well as the economic costs of inaction in the face of ocean climate change and pollution, of ignoring the loss of ecosystem services the Pacific provides. This study was introduced at the Kava Bowl Ocean Summit.