More Pacific island nations are being encouraged to better protect their islands' biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge.
Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
The UN Environment Programme said the resources were often exploited by the likes of large pharmaceutical companies and it says communities need to be adequately compensated.
To do this, the UN is implementing an access and benefit sharing scheme in the region.
The three year project is funded by the Global Environment Facility and is being implemented by the region's environmental agency, SPREP.
The scheme aims to address the inequality of bargaining power between multinationals and communities to promote healthy ecosystems and people.
It supports the UN's Nagoya Protocol, a convention on biological diversity which came into force in 2014.
The Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu are current Pacific Island signatories to the Protocol, among other countries.