<
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-caledonia-expands-strictly-protected-coverage-of-its-swath-of-the-pacific/>
"The government of New Caledonia recently announced that it would highly
protect 10% of its ocean to safeguard ecologically important marine areas for
sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, whales and seabirds.
A decade ago, New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France, located in the
western Pacific Ocean, already established its entire
1.3-million-square-kilometer (502,000-square-mile) exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) as a marine protected area (MPA) — an area known as the Natural Park of
the Coral Sea. However, only 2.4% of this park was highly protected, where
industrial activities like fishing, drilling and mining were prohibited. These
activities were permitted in the remaining 97.6%.
On Oct. 18, the New Caledonian government designated an additional 7.6% of its
EEZ to be highly protected, meaning that industrial activities are now
prohibited in 10% of the EEZ.
“The Natural Park of the Coral Sea is a biological and cultural sanctuary,”
Giuseppe Di Carlo, director of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, a group
that helped orchestrate these new protections, said in a statement. “By
protecting one-tenth of the park’s vibrant waters, the government has started
to conserve internationally significant ecosystems, habitat for an array of
unique marine life, and areas that are culturally important to New Caledonia’s
local Kanak communities.”
The newly protected areas will preserve habitat and migratory corridors for
various species, including whales, turtles and seabirds. They will also help
safeguard ecologically important coral reefs, seamounts, and a deep-sea trench
that reaches a depth of more than 7,000 meters (23,000 feet)."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-women-rights-france-ntds-africa-bears-europe/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
