50 Vatu Earth Pigeons

Vanuatu's didactic conservation coinage of the early 1990s targeted the endemic fruit pigeons of the archipelago at a moment when logging concessions were accelerating habitat loss across the outer islands. The Vanuatu government had signed onto CITES protections, and these issues were partly diplomatic currency — proof of environmental commitment to international bodies.

KM#13 was struck by the Royal Australian Mint under contract.