OCEANIA BIOREGION LIBRARY
The Oceanic Bioregional Library integrates approximately 8,510,000 square kilometers (851,000,000 hectares / 2,103,000,000 acres) of land distributed across thousands of islands and continental fragments spread through the Pacific and Indian Ocean basins, including Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Its coastlines stretch across vast marine domains marked by coral reefs, lagoons, atolls, volcanic archipelagos, continental shelves, and deep-ocean trenches, forming some of the longest combined ocean–land interfaces on Earth (land area synthesized from widely cited Britannica and United Nations Statistics Division geographic tables; coastal and marine spatial ranges aggregated from global geographic datasets describing the Pacific and surrounding maritime systems). Within this expansive seascape, the library organizes Oceania into major bioregions such as the Australian deserts and woodlands, the Great Dividing Range forest systems, the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, the high volcanic islands of Melanesia, the coral atoll systems of Micronesia, and the temperate and alpine landscapes of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Each bioregion is studied through its cultural, ecological, and artistic histories, including Aboriginal Australian, Māori, Samoan, Fijian, Tongan, Micronesian, and many other peoples whose lifeways are deeply linked with navigation, ocean stewardship, fishing practices, agroforestry systems, carving traditions, oral epics, dance, and cosmological understandings structured around stars, winds, and tides. The Oceanic Bioregional Library documents historical processes of voyaging, colonization, missionary expansion, plantation economies, nuclear testing, and climate-era transformations, while also addressing pressing environmental concerns such as coral bleaching, sea-level rise, species loss, coastal erosion, freshwater scarcity, and the vulnerability of island ecosystems. Parallel attention is given to conservation strategies including marine protected areas, customary tenure systems, Indigenous ranger programs, reef restoration efforts, and local-community resource agreements that sustain cultural continuity and ecological resilience. The library integrates archives of languages, chants, genealogies, medicinal plants, canoe-building knowledge, weaving and carving arts, ecological calendars, and contemporary innovations in governance and sustainability, presenting Oceania as a dynamic constellation of ocean-centered bioregions rather than a marginal periphery. Grounded in authoritative encyclopedic references, UN geographic statistics, and bioregional scholarship, the Oceanic Bioregional Library serves simultaneously as a scientific reference and a cultural memory space, supporting education, stewardship, and respect for the living diversity of lands, waters, and peoples across the Pacific world.
