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President Obama to Quadruple Size of Marine Protected Area Near Hawaii
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President Obama is increasing the size [whitehouse.gov] of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument [wikipedia.org] by over 316%, to encompass an area more than twice the size of Texas:
On Friday, President Obama will expand the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating the world's largest marine protected area. Building on the United States' global leadership in marine conservation, today's designation will more than quadruple the size of the existing marine monument, permanently protecting pristine coral reefs, deep sea marine habitats, and important ecological resources in the waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
Following this historic conservation action, the President will travel to Hawaii next week. On Wednesday evening, he will address leaders from the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders and the IUCN World Conservation Congress, which is being hosted in the United States for the first time. On Thursday, he will travel to Midway Atoll, located within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, to mark the significance of this monument designation and highlight first-hand how the threat of climate change makes protecting our public lands and waters more important than ever.
The monument was originally created in 2006 by President George W. Bush and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. Since that time, new scientific exploration and research has revealed new species and deep sea habitats as well as important ecological connections between the existing monument and the adjacent waters. Today's designation will expand the existing Marine National Monument by 442,781 square miles, bringing the total protected area of the expanded monument to 582,578 square miles.
The move follows a similar expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument [wikipedia.org] in 2014.
DOI press release [doi.gov], and more resources at NOAA [noaa.gov].
Reported at NPR [npr.org], National Geographic [nationalgeographic.com], NBC [nbcnews.com], and WBUR [wbur.org].
