Jacqui Evans
Jacqui Evans is a marine conservationist and ocean expert. Se works as a Research Fellow at the University of the South Pacific in Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands. She graduated as a Bachelor in Environmental Studies from USP-Fiji and as a Geographer from the University of Hawai'i.
Jacqui Evans worked with the environmental organization Te Ipukarea Society and was one of the campaigners to turn the sea around the Cook Islands into a marine park. This campaign was successful and the Cook Islands created Marae Moana, the marine park that covers the totality of the country's ocean territory. In 2017 Jacqui Evans became Marae Moana's first director. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition for her efforts. Because of her support for a moratorium on deepsea mining, the Cook Island's government fired her as Marae Moana's director in 2019. She's founded the Moana Foundation.