Vol. 9, No. 8 March 2008 International News and Analysis on Marine Protected Areas Kiribati Expands Phoenix Islands Protected Area, Creating World’s Largest MPA The Pacific island nation of Kiribati has more than considered to be the world’s largest MPA, followed by doubled the size of its Phoenix Islands Protected Area the 344,400-km2 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in (PIPA), creating what is being called the world’s largest Australia. Depending on how one defines “marine For more information marine protected area. The expanded MPA, an- protected area”, however, other (larger) marine areas Tebwe Ietaake, Ministry of nounced by the Government of Kiribati in late January could also be considered, like the 70 million-km2 Environment, Lands, and 2008, now encompasses an area of 410,500 km2 — up Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary (”Which MPA Is the Agricultural Development, from 184,700 km2. World’s Largest?”, MPA News 8:2). Kiribati. Tel: +686 28507; E- mail: [email protected] The vision for the PIPA remains the same as when the site was designated in 2006: commercial fishing will be Funded by endowment Sue Miller-Taei, Conserva- phased out, although subsistence reef fishing by the The PIPA will be financed through an endowment tion International, Samoa. fewer than 50 residents of the Phoenix Islands archi- being initiated with private funding by CI’s Global Tel: +685 21593; E-mail: pelago will be allowed to continue (MPA News 7:9). Conservation Fund. The endowment will grow with [email protected] The protected area was developed by Kiribati in matching funds from private and public institutions, cooperation with the New England Aquarium over and will be similar to ones enacted by CI to protect several years of joint research, with funding and South American rainforests. It will be overseen by a technical assistance from Conservation International board of managers including CI, the Government of (CI). Designated to protect the nation’s near-pristine Kiribati, New England Aquarium, and others. coral reef ecosystem, the PIPA is located halfway Sue Miller-Taei, CI’s marine program manager for Table of Contents between Australia and Hawai’i in the Central Pacific. Pacific Islands, says the PIPA endowment will have Kiribati Expands Phoenix Tebwe Ietaake, secretary of the Kiribati environment three functions: Islands Protected Area, ministry, says there was no conscious plan to double the • Support the costs of managing the protected area; Creating World’s Largest size of the MPA. Rather, the expansion allows for • Cover the costs of operating the financing vehicle MPA ............................ 1 greater conservation opportunities. “The new bound- that holds the endowment; and MPA Global Database aries address two fundamental considerations,” says • Compensate the Government of Kiribati for lost Releases Figures: Ietaake. “One was to include two reefs, Winslow and revenue suffered from cancellation of fishing licenses MPAs Cover Just Carondelet, that were outside the 60-mile offshore to foreign tuna fleets. 0.65% of Oceans ......... 2 boundary set around the islands [in 2006]. Second was to make the boundaries more easily described and How large the endowment needs to be to cover these MPA Perspective suitable for navigators by adopting straight-line costs will be the focus of discussions this month in MPAs in Europe — coordinates rather than circular 60-mile radius coordi- Kiribati, says Miller-Taei. As the endowment grows, Challenges and nates.” The expanded MPA also includes tuna fishing effort will be phased out. “CI has an initial Opportunities ................ 3 spawning grounds, seamounts, and deep sea habitat that secured commitment from its Global Conservation MPA Perspective were formerly outside its limits. Fund for US $2.5 million,” she says. “We have a range of other private, multilateral, and bilateral donors Climate Change and the Although Kiribati is the largest atoll nation in the world, interested in supporting the PIPA endowment.” She U.S. National System of it is geographically isolated. This isolation has histori- says that the years of planning and the partnerships MPAs — Why Places Are cally insulated the nation from outside threats. But already in place — as well as the PIPA’s profile as the Important ..................... 4 foreign fishing fleets have expressed growing interest in world’s largest MPA — will all aid in the fundraising. Notes & News .............. 5 its waters, and climate change looms. Sea level rise is a major concern for this low-lying nation, and a pro- Miller-Taei says a key challenge will come in deciding longed drought has threatened domestic water supplies. how, in space and time, to phase out the fishing effort. “This will involve working with a range of types of Prior to the PIPA expansion, the 362,000-km2 agreements and license arrangements — from annual Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in continued on next page the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (U.S.) was widely license fees for distant-water fishing fleets, to multilat- The PIPA will enhance the development potential of eral fishing treaties,” she says. Kiribati as a place to visit, starting first with cruise lines bringing tourists.” Kiribati includes two other, more- The Government of Kiribati anticipates that the populated island groups in addition to the Phoenix expanded PIPA will help draw more tourists to the Islands. archipelago. “I am optimistic about the future of tourism development in Kiribati,” says Ietaake. “It is The PIPA website is http://phoenixislands.org. one of the untouched, undisturbed places on Earth. MPA Global Database Releases Figures: MPAs Cover Just 0.65% of Oceans A project to create a global database on marine Number of MPAs designated worldwide: protected areas has released new figures on the state 4435 of the MPA field. Representing the most authorita- Area covered by MPAs worldwide: tive figures to date, the findings show the small total 2.35 million km2 area covered by MPAs worldwide — less than 1%. Percentage of world oceans covered by MPAs: The figures come from the MPA Global database 0.65% (http://mpaglobal.org), housed at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Created and managed by Percentage of area within Exclusive Economic Zones covered by MPAs: Louisa Wood as part of her Ph.D. thesis, MPA 1.6% Global is a collaboration of the UNEP-World Percentage of global MPA area subject to no-take regulations: Conservation Monitoring Centre, IUCN World 12.8% Commission on Protected Areas-Marine, World Percentage of world’s oceans subject to no-take regulations: Wildlife Fund, and the Sea Around Us Project at 0.08% (This is the first estimate of global no-take area that is based directly on no-take UBC’s Fisheries Centre. The MPA Global database data. It improves on previous estimates that relied on the use of sites’ IUCN manage- originated from the World Database on Protected ment categories as a proxy for no-take data.) Areas, and is in the process of being re-incorporated in the latter (MPA News 9:7). Mean area of MPAs: 544 km2 The figures at right are from MPA Global; these and Median area of MPAs: other figures from the project are presented in Wood’s 4.6 km2 (The substantial difference between mean and median MPA size is largely Ph.D. thesis, which she defended in December 2007. attributable to 10 very large MPAs, below, constituting 75% of global MPA area.) Wood is also lead author on a paper providing more detailed analysis of the global system of MPAs, in press Ten largest MPAs: in the journal Oryx. (Editor’s note: Wood now serves as 1. Phoenix Islands Protected Area (country: Kiribati) — 410,500 km2 technical advisor on MPAs for IUCN’s Global Marine 2. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (U.S.) — 362,000 km2 Programme, working on projects in support of 2 implementing the World Commission on Protected 3. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Australia) — 344,400 km Areas - Marine Plan of Action. These projects include 4. Macquarie Island Marine Park (Australia) — 162,000 km2 the “Wet List” — a new global partnership to map 5. Galápagos Marine Reserve (Ecuador) — 133,000 km2 progress, recognize successes in marine conservation, 6. Greenland National Park (Denmark) — 110,000 km2, excluding terrestrial area and identify challenges to building MPA networks and 2 conserving the marine environment [“Global MPA 7. Seaflower Marine Protected Area (Colombia) — 65,000 km Priorities to Be Set this Month…”, MPA News 8:9].) 8. Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve (Australia) — 64,600 km2 2 The criterion for inclusion in MPA Global is the 9. Komandorsky Zapovednik (Russia) — 55,800 km , including buffer zone IUCN definition of MPA: “an area of intertidal or 10. Wrangel Island Zapovednik (Russia) — 46,700 km2, including buffer zone subtidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural Percentage of global MPA area located within the tropical latitude belt (between features, which has been reserved by law or other 30°N and 30°S): effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed 65% environment” (IUCN 1992). To date there remains Percentage of global MPA area located in latitudes higher than 50°: debate over whether some types of spatial manage- 31% ment measures, such as permanent fisheries closures, should be included in the database. MPA Global For more information: Louisa Wood, IUCN. E-mail: [email protected] does not include such areas. 2 MPA News MPA Perspective MPAs in Europe — Challenges and Opportunities By José A. García-Charton, Concepción Marcos, MPAs in relation to planned goals and objectives. Editor’s note Fuensanta Salas, and Ángel Pérez-Ruzafa MPAs constitute true scientific experiments at the ecosystem scale, and hence a privileged stage for the The authors of this piece The European Symposium on Marine Protected Areas advancement of knowledge.