Our Genealogy. One Ocean, One People.
It began with an invitation—not to an event, but to a moment. A moment in which people, scattered across vast waters and countless islands, paused and turned toward each other.
The invitation was simple: Come together as one Oceania.
For generations, the people of Oceania lived as neighbors separated by invisible lines that pulled us apart. These divisions—political, cultural, linguistic—grew over time, etched deep into maps and minds. The colonial subdivisions of lands and seas shaped our realities, making it hard to relate, to share, to simply talk.
Now, a new movement is beginning to rise—not from a single island or voice, but from the collective pulse of the ocean’s people. We ask: Who are we, really? Not as divided Pacific islanders, but as children of the same ocean.
In June 2024, we came together in this first phase, the goal was not action, but reflection. People gathered in Honolulu—in person, in spirit—to speak their truths, to listen to one another, and to uncover a shared identity that had long been buried beneath boundaries
Participants
We are a people-powered movement with participants throughout Oceania who are steering our work and vision. This is only just the beginning.
Hawaii
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Aotearoa
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Tahiti
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Samoa
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American Samoa
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Saipan
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Tonga
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Niue
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Rapa Nui
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Rapa Nui
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New Caledonia
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Guam
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Federated States of Micronesia
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Kiribati
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Tuvalu
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Cook Islands
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Fiji
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Papua New Guinea
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Yap
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Palau.
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Hawaii • Aotearoa • Tahiti • Samoa • American Samoa • Saipan • Tonga • Niue • Rapa Nui • Rapa Nui • New Caledonia • Guam • Federated States of Micronesia • Kiribati • Tuvalu • Cook Islands • Fiji • Papua New Guinea • Yap • Palau. •
And in those conversations, one symbol emerged over and over again: the vaka.
The vaka—canoe, vessel, wayfinder. It was more than transportation; it was connection. Long before digital communication lines, it was the vaka that carried stories, songs, seeds, and people across the Pacific. It was the vaka that proved the ocean was not a barrier, but a bridge.
To honor the vaka was to acknowledge that the ocean never truly divided Oceania. It connected it.
This realization became the turning point. If the ocean was one, and they all traveled it through the same vessel, then weren’t they—at their core—one people?
With the vaka as our shared symbol, we the people of Oceania are now erasing old lines. And from this place of connection, a new question has emerged:
If we are one ocean, do we not share the responsibility to care for it together?
Our answer was yes.
Our Oli
From our gathering a commitment and a declaration was born. And a chant that defines who we are.
Our movement has now progressed. Not just to reconnect, but to reimagine. We are reaching father—to other communities, other islands, other voices—to start a bigger conversation about stewardship, solidarity, and shared possibility. And we are taking action for the protection of our own ancestral places.
We can only reach the future if we paddle together.
June 2024, Hui Pū Nā Leo o Moananuiākea, Hawai’i
In June 2014, 34 Pacific Island Indigenous and community and cultural leaders gathered in Hawaiʻi to discuss a shared responsibility to protect biocultural places for the people of Oceania.
Our Co-Founders
Solomon Pili Kahoʻohalala
Co-Founder
LĀNA‘I, HAWAI‘ISolomon Pili Kahoʻohalahala, affectionately known as “Uncle Sol,” is a seventh-generation Native Hawaiian from Lānaʻi and a lifelong advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental stewardship. A respected cultural practitioner and community leader, his work is rooted in the Hawaiian value of āina momona—abundance and well-being through harmony with land and sea. Most recently, he co-founded One Oceania, an initiative that brings the indigenous perspective forward at international decision-making arenas to protect our precious Earth, curb the climate crisis, and inspire the global community into a renewed relationship with the planet.
He has served in the Maui County Council, Hawaiʻi State Legislature, and chaired the Hawaiʻi Sovereignty Commission. As Executive Director of the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission, he led restoration efforts and co-founded the Lānaʻi chapter of Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana. He also established the Maunalei Ahupuaʻa Managed Area to empower youth and preserve ancestral lands. Internationally, Uncle Sol is an observer at the International Seabed Authority, chairs the advisory councils of the Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary. As a crewmember of the legendary double-hulled canoe Hōkūleʻa, he helps carry forward the legacy of Indigenous navigation and cultural revitalization.
Sheila Raha Sarhangi
CO-FOUNDER
HONOLULU, HAWAI‘ISheila Raha Sarhangi has spent 20 years working in partnership with communities across Oceania to protect cultural heritage and the planet’s most biodiverse hotspots. She led the campaigns for the expansions of Papahānaumokuākea and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments, two of the world’s largest marine protected areas. A journalist and author, Sheila uses storytelling to shift mindsets and drive action. As the former vice president of strategic communications at the Hawaii Community Foundation, she advanced disaster recovery efforts, raising over $195M in one year.