Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA)

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is one of the largest marine protected areas on Earth, covering more than 408,000 square kilometres of the central Pacific between the Gilbert Islands and Samoa. The protected area encompasses eight atolls and submerged reefs, including some that are completely submerged and others that support small seasonal or permanent populations of seabirds and marine organisms. The scale of the area is difficult to comprehend from any single vantage point: it extends across a vast expanse of ocean and represents one of the most intact and undisturbed Pacific marine ecosystems remaining on the planet. Fishing and extractive activities are prohibited within the protected zone, making PIPA one of the world's few genuinely large no-take marine reserves at a scale that can support meaningful ecological processes rather than just small habitat fragments.

The marine ecology of PIPA is exceptional. The deep-sea reef systems surrounding the atolls support rich communities of coral and fish that have been largely insulated from the overfishing and reef degradation that has affected most of the Pacific's more accessible coastlines. The currents that sweep through the Phoenix Islands region, driven by the equatorial undercurrent and the South Equatorial Current, bring nutrient-rich waters to the reef systems and support high productivity throughout the food chain. Large pelagic species including tuna, shark and manta rays are present in numbers rarely found elsewhere in the Pacific. The shallower reef flats around the atolls support healthy coral communities in a range of depths and environments, and the drop-offs at the reef margins provide access to deeper water environments without the need for scuba equipment.

The atolls themselves are significant for their seabird colonies. Several of the islands support some of the largest breeding populations of seabirds in the central Pacific, including populations of the critically endangered Phoenix petrel (Pterodroma alba), a species that has been pushed to near-extinction on many Pacific islands but which breeds relatively successfully on these protected atolls. The islands also support populations of nesting green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles, with the beaches on the more undisturbed atolls providing important nesting habitat. The absence of terrestrial mammals and most introduced species on the more remote atolls means that the island ecosystems are functioning largely as they would have before human contact, an ecological baseline that is vanishingly rare in the Pacific.

Access to PIPA is tightly controlled by the Kiribati government and the New Zealand-based Phoenix Islands Protected Area Consortium, which supports management of the reserve. Research expeditions are the primary means of visiting the interior of the protected area, typically departing from Tarawa or Apia (Samoa) on specialised vessels. The limited access is both a constraint on tourism and the primary reason the ecosystem remains in such good condition, and the management approach has been widely cited as a model for large-scale marine conservation in the Pacific and globally. The reserve was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010 in recognition of its global significance as an undisturbed Pacific marine ecosystem.

One of the largest marine protected areas in the world, providing genuine large-scale ecosystem protection for Pacific marine environments.

UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription reflecting global significance of the undisturbed marine and seabird ecosystems.

Healthy populations of large pelagic species including tuna, shark and manta rays in largely unexploited waters.

Significant seabird colonies including the critically endangered Phoenix petrel, and important sea turtle nesting beaches.