Zelda Hilly

 Program Coordinator – Solomon Islands

Growing up near the coast, Zelda has always had a love and connection for the marine environment, which led her to pursue a degree in Marine Biology from the University of Papua New Guinea.

Serving her people had always been her dream and, upon returning from studies, she opted to work in her home town of Gizo with The World Fish Centre in coastal fisheries research and management. She spent an extensive amount of time working and engaging with coastal communities and understands the environmental challenges that her community faces. Having witnessed the growing problem of waste management in the Solomon Islands (particularly of plastics and their impact on the marine environment) she became passionate about developing long-term, sustainable solutions alongside the Gizo community.

In 2014, Zelda pursued a Masters in Natural Resource Management in Australia at James Cook University under a John Allwrights Fellowship Scholarship. She returned once again in 2016 to her home town of Gizo, to work for another ENGO, WWF. It was during this time that she first actively raised the issue of plastic pollution.

Zelda is passionate about creating sustainable solutions for the environment which has led her to advocate for a plastic free community during her involvement with the Western Provincial Network for Sustainable Environment. Her dream is that one day Solomon Islands will be plastic and pollution free. She is excited to be part of the PCFML team, contributing to provide solutions to this and the many other challenges that the Solomon’s community and marine environment currently face.