What is the Reimaanlok Framework?

The Reimaanlok Conservation Area Management Planning Framework was updated in 2025 and it continues to help atoll communities in the Marshall Islands in a holistic manner to think globally and act locally. It employs community-based tools and approaches to articulate local objectives that translate to national, regional and international goals.

Among the many noteworthy atoll-appropriate features of the Reimaanlok process, in Step 1 a Local Resource Committee (LRC) is established by the municipal government which then oversees the development of the resource management plan in that atoll. The LRC consists of representatives from the local government, traditional leadership, church leadership, men and women’s groups, youth, elderly and persons with disabilities. Step 3 is also noteworthy in that it entails gathering rich datasets along socioeconomic, ecological, and physical parameters. 

Some communities using this approach are finding early success as they proceed in the step-by-step process of articulating threats and their needs and priorities, codifying these into a management plan with various short, medium, and long term measures including in enhancing their ecosystem and socio-economic resilience to climate impacts. Moreover, these municipalities/communities remain engaged in the process of implementing and monitoring these measures as a unifying endeavor for their community.

At the national level, the Reimaanlok Framework is now mainstreamed within national government legislation, governance, and financing systems most importantly within the RMI Protected Area Network (PAN). It is also mainstreamed into the RMI’s survival plan, Pepjelmae, our National Adaptation Plan as a planning tool for effective management of coastal and marine resources.

For MICS, in addition to grants from funding partners such as GEF Small Grants Program, The Nature Conservancy and the Micronesia Conservation Trust, there are a few large funding initiatives that advance the Reimaanlok Framework (national and regional) including:

• Asian Development Bank - Ireland Trust Fund (ADB)

• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

• Global Environment Facility (GEF)

• Global Climate Fund (GCF)