The western Pacific region contains 22 independent island countries and territories spread over an area of 27.8 million km 2 . Pacific peoples have lived here for as long as 50,000 yr, developing isolated cultures with close relationships to the environment. Although food security is adequate, the region suffers from persistent poverty that places many in a precarious position. Beginning in the 1920s, geological surveys conducted pioneering studies geared toward development. Beginning in the mid-1990s, many aid donors shifted their focus away from science, leading to a depletion of geo-science capacity. Lately, regional organizations have made considerable headway in expanding scientific capacity. The Geoscience Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community plays a significant role in helping the region attract geoscience-related aid funding and stitching the dispersed geoscience communities together. Universities in the region, assisted by geoscientists abroad and private employers, are also playing a role. This paper describes three examples of how geoscience can contribute to inclusive sustainable development. One example explores deep-sea minerals as a new source of wealth generation and the challenges the region faces in developing capacity and addressing the environmental concerns of this new revenue stream. A second project in Kiribati has moved aggregate extraction from beaches only 3 m above sea level to sediment-rich lagoons, providing new options for the future. Lastly, the promises and benefits of sustainable geothermal and ocean thermal technology are described.

The few geological and geophysical studies of the Lyra Basin at the western margin of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP; Pacific Ocean) revealed that it is underlain by thicker than normal oceanic crust. The unusually thick oceanic crust is attributed to the emplacement of massive lava flows from the OJP. Dredging was conducted to sample the inferred OJP crust on the Lyra Basin but instead recovered younger extrusives that may have covered the older plateau lavas in the area. The Lyra Basin extrusives are alkalic basalts with ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) t = 0.704513–0.705105, ( 143 Nd/ 144 Nd) t = 0.512709–0.512749, ε Nd (t) = +3.0 to +3.8, ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb) t = 18.488–18.722, ( 207 Pb/ 204 Pb) t = 15.558–15.577, and ( 208 Pb/ 204 Pb) t = 38.467–38.680 that are distinct from those of the OJP tholeiites. They have age-corrected ( 187 Os/ 188 Os) t = 0.1263–0.1838 that overlap with the range of values determined for the Kroenke-type and Kwaimbaita-type OJP basalts, but their ( 176 Hf/ 177 Hf) t = 0.28295–0.28299 and ε Hf (t) = +7.9 to +9.3 values are lower. These isotopic compositions do not match those of any Polynesian ocean island volcanics. Instead, the Lyra Basin basalts have geochemical affinity and isotopic compositions that overlap with those of some alkalic suite and alnöites in the island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Although not directly related to the main plateau volcanism at 120 Ma, the geochemical data and modeling suggest that the origin of the Lyra Basin alkalic rocks may be genetically linked to the mantle preserved in the OJP thick lithospheric root, with magmatic contribution from the Rarotongan hotspot.