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PUBLIC CONSULTATION UNDERWAY
TE MAFAI 'O E TOFUA'A BILL
The TE MAFAI O 'E TOFUA'A CLIMATE BILL 2026 (The Legal Rights of Whales Climate Bill 2026) is a groundbreaking cultural and legal framework that officially recognises whales as legal persons with their own inherent rights to life, safe migration, and healthy oceans. This bill creates a dedicated indigenous-led Guardianship Council to speak for the whales, introduces strict rules for commercial shipping, and establishes a dedicated fund to directly finance whale population recovery and marine restoration.
We invite you to explore the 8 pillars of this historic framework, share your voice, and join us in legally protecting our ancestral ocean navigators for generations to come.
FAKALOFA ATU!
Te Mafai o ’e Tofua’a: Legally Shielding the Guardians of Moananui.
The Te Mafai 'O E Tofua'a Climate Bill 2026 would make Tonga the first Pacific nation to recognise whales as legal persons — protecting our ancient bond with Moananui and the sentient beings who have always kept it alive. We need your feedback to shape it.
Our Legacy and Our Future.
1978: A Royal Decree
In 1978, King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV declared Tonga the world's first whale sanctuary — a visionary act that positioned our islands as global guardians of the deep. That protection was not a policy. It was a declaration of who we are.
The Tongan Fisheries Conservation and Management Act 1993 offered further protections to marine mammals.
In April 2017, Tonga co-hosted the Whales in a Changing Ocean Conference with South Pacific
Regional Environment Program (SPREP), the first ever regional conference of its nature.
Nearly fifty years later, his granddaughter Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho carried that legacy forward. At the 2025 Ocean Science Congress, she called on the world to go further — to give whales not just sanctuary, but rights. Legal and enforceable rights.
The Te Mafai 'O E Tofua'a Climate Bill 2026 is the answer to that call. Every voice is needed to shape the future of ocean guardianship.
1993: Advancing Marine Protections
2025: A Call To The World
2017: Whales in a Changing Ocean
