The BBC reports on a major milestone for marine conservation efforts in the Pacific and for island biodiversity. $18 million dollars were pledged to protect nearly a third of coastal waters and a fifth of the land area of islands in Micronesia by 2020. In addition:
In a separate move, one of the world’s largest marine parks will be created in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to protect an extraordinary untouched coral ecosystem… an area twice the size of Portugal, and will heavily restrict human activities (including fishing) in the Phoenix Islands, a group of eight coral atolls between Hawaii and Fiji.