KIRIBATI’S OCEAN PARADISE

TINY PACIFIC ISLAND CREATES

WORLD’S LARGEST MARINE RESERVE

The tiny Pacific islands nation of Kiribati declared the world's largest marine protected area last week — a California-sized ocean wilderness that includes pristine reefs and coral atolls teeming with fish and birds.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) lies about halfway between Hawaii and Fiji and will conserve one of the Earth's last intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems. More than 120 species of coral and 520 species of fish live in the area. The protected zone also has some of the most important sea bird nesting sites in the Pacific, plus large fish populations and sea turtles.

Kiribati is an impoverished coral atoll nation of about 95,000 people. It's total land area covers 717 square kilometers, spread across 33 coral atolls. Its people are increasingly concerned about coastal erosion caused by rising seas in a nation no more than five meters above sea level. Besides destroying causeways and seawalls, rising waters have begun to topple coconut palms grown along the shoreline that are crucial to islanders' survival. The government stands to lose about US$3 million in fishing revenue with the creation of the reserve, but is hoping to recoup some of the losses by boosting tourism, which now accounts for 20 percent of the country’s GDP.

Kiribati hopes to establish the 410,500-square-kilometer area as a protected zone by the end of this year. It has already applied to have the reserve listed as a World Heritage Site. Shoutout to Kiribati for protecting its resources, and the world's resources, despite the costs.

Sources, resources, discourses:

1. Reuters U.K. – article
2. International Herald Tribune – article
3. Telegraph.co.uk – article and photos