George W. Bush originally established the reserve a decade ago, protecting 140,000 square miles.
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Celebrating the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, Barack Obama just inaugurated the world’s largest natural reservation in Hawaii, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
The New York Times reported that Mr. Obama will go to Midway Atoll, a remote strip of land within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Hawaiian state officials and Native Hawaiian leaders.
The president will travel next to China for a G20 summit where he said climate change will be a centerpiece of the agenda.
Obama’s announcement came just days before the kickoff of a major global conservation meeting including thousands of heads of state, scientists and policy makers, which the USA president is expected to address in Hawaii on Thursday.
President Obama opened with light-hearted comments about the weather situation that greeted him in his home state. Sustainable fishing, stricter dumping rules, etc, should be the norm, not the exception.
Longline boats fishing gear supply a large quantity of fresh tuna and other fish that is consumed in Hawaii. These include rare species such as the threatened green turtle and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a 4,500-year-old black coral, and millions of birds, including the world’s most endangered duck, the Laysan.
Greenpeace also hailed what it called a “bold decision” that will ban commercial fishing and mineral extraction in the region.
This action also creates the largest marine protected area on earth-in a place that could not illustrate more perfectly both the benefits of protecting ocean habitats and the pressing need to do so on a global scale. Impacts recognized within the Papahanaumokuakea designation are not limited to commercial fishing, by the way.
It also carries substantial cultural significance as a sacred place to native Hawaiians, where it is the site of many Polynesian creation and settlement stories, as well as being used for activities like traditional long-distance voyaging.
On the remaining months of his term as US President, Obama has shown his concern over natural and environmental concerns.
Our islands have always been considered the endangered species and extinction capital of the world.
As Tony Perry pointed out earlier this year in the Washington Post, “The islands’ small land mass, their long history of extreme isolation and the recent rapid pace of development have left its many indigenous species vulnerable to predators and diseases for which they never developed defenses”. It was apparent they weighed on Gov. David Ige as he completed his recent letter of support to the president.
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Based on a series of expert workshops, interviews with resource managers and scientists, and a thorough review of available literature, the report identifies how and why cultural and ecological resources across the monument are likely to be affected by future climate.
