3Ps Cook Islands Final Report: Financing Nature as a Solution for Flood Mitigation and Water Quality

Located on the eastern coast of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, the Muri Lagoon is experiencing the effects of increased coastal development. With an economy highly dependent on tourism, these effects not only threaten the long-term viability of the tourism industry but also impact local communities. Increases in impervious surfaces (e.g., asphalt) lead to greater flooding, while effluent from sewage and sediment runoff contributes to massive algae blooms and poses human health risks in the lagoon. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Cook Islands Government have been collaborating to address flooding and development-related issues affecting water quality in the Muri Lagoon, but additional funding and approaches to addressing these challenges are needed. As part of the People, Planet Prosperity (3Ps) project,1 a transdisciplinary team comprised of local government agencies (the National Environment Service, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, and Infrastructure Cook Islands), the local NGO Muri Environment Care, ADB, and Stanford’s Natural Capital Project (NatCap), collaborated to equip Cook Islands’ leaders with tools to inform watershed management and protect the lagoon. Key objectives included integrating natural capital assessments into Cook Islanders’ decision-making processes and ADB’s loan processes, strengthening local knowledge about natural capital approaches, and piloting nature-based solutions in the Muri Lagoon area.