The Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance (IPCA) is a non-profit biodiversity conservation organization focusing on the tropical Pacific region. Our current field projects are located in Indonesia and New Guinea.

Our main program is with the Asmat community of southwestern Papua, Indonesia, in the lowlands of Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the largest and most diverse protected area in the Asia-Pacific Region. Our conservation successes include halting destructive commercial logging and fishing operations.

IPCA takes a slightly different approach to conservation. Rather than imposing an external strategy for protecting biodiversity, we work as facilitators to local communities who request our help. IPCA provides information, training, equipment and other support to these local stakeholders to help them conserve and manage their natural resources. This partnership with local peoples is essential to establish community-owned and community-driven conservation.

The long-term economic and cultural value of natural resources in tropical ecosystems exceeds that which can be gained from short-term over-exploitation. The best hope for conservation comes from mobilizing local support and capacity for sustainable management of natural resources in a living landscape that protects biodiversity while incorporating the aspirations of local people for a better life. Our goal is to ensure that forests, rivers, and seas, the species within them, and the services they provide, remain intact for future generations. IPCA also carries out scientific surveys to document biodiversity, how local people view and use those resources, and how it is impacted by threats such as commercial fishing, logging, and invasive species. IPCA is also exploring sustainable small-scale microenterprises so communities can benefit economically from their biodiversity resources without undermining its viability.

IPCA is based at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. Rather than establish in-country offices, which is both expensive and unnecessary, we work with and through local partners to minimize overhead costs and put financial resources into the field where it is urgently needed. IPCA was formed in 1998 in collaborative association with scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, Bishop Museum, and other leading scientific and conservation organizations. Our projects are science-based and driven by our desire to work in authentic collaboration with indigenous communities, in-country scientists, local conservation groups, and other stakeholders.

Our geographic focus is on the tropical Indo-Pacific region, a vast area that includes Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia — by far the most biologically and culturally diverse area of the planet.