The Polynesian Voyaging Society embarks on a worldwide voyage through marine World Heritage sites

Nainoa Thompson and the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage (sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines) are embarking on a 3-year trip that will take them to 13 marine World Heritage sites. The voyage is taking place with Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia, sister canoes who are both sailing on parallel sail plans in 2015-2017.

UNESCO and the Polynesian Voyaging Society signed a partnership agreement that will strengthen the visibility of marine World Heritage sites, the local people who live and work in these sites and the challenges these unique ocean places face. The agreement concerns an inter-sectoral cooperation between the science and cultural sector of UNESCO.

Scientists, educators and documentation teams are on board the voyage to help tell the stories of ocean conservation, stressing the importance and value of these unique World Heritage sites. Their findings will be transmitted via satellite and their stories will be shared globally through National Geographic, Google, Ocean Elders, Huffington Post, and others. Nainoa Thompson, President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a master in the traditional Polynesian art of non-instrument navigating, was a keynote speaker at the first marine World Heritage site managers conference in Hawaii, USA, December 2010.

The journey started in May 2014 and will end in June 2017.

Follow where the canoe will dock next: www.hokulea.com/.