ZECO TRAVEL TALK

In February 2008 the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati became a global leader in conservation by creating the largest protected marine reserve in the world. Known as the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), the first reserve (78,000 square miles) was established in 2006. With the help of the New England Aquarium and Conservation International, the area has been doubled in size to 158,500 square miles. Kiribati comprises only 33 islands but spreads across two million square miles between Hawai’i and Fiji, encompassing a vast region of biodiversity. Some of the planet’s most pristine reef systems thrive here; more than 120 species of coral and 500 species of fish within the reserve exist nowhere else. The first marine park to include deep-sea habitat and underwater mountains, PIPA also protects some of the Pacific’s most important seabird nesting sites.