IN THE COOK ISLANDS, A MARINE RESERVE TWO TIMES LARGE AS FRANCE

The Pacific archipelago announced on Tuesday the creation of the largest protected area in the world, on half of its territorial waters.

The Cook Islands have announced they have created the world's largest marine reserve, a vast expanse of ocean in the Great Pacific as twice as France.

The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Henry Puna, said Tuesday evening on the occasion of the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum (FIP) that the reserve of 1,065 million km2 "was the largest area in history (created) by one country for the conservation and management of the ocean».

The conservation of the Pacific, its fauna and flora is the contribution of the Cook Islands "to the well-being not only of our people, but of all humanity", he said.

«The marine reserve will provide the necessary framework to promote sustainable development by combining the challenges of economic growth such as tourism, fishing and deep-water drilling on one side, and on the other, the preservation of the biodiversity of the oceansHenry Puna justified.

For its part, Australia announced in June the creation of the largest network in the world of marine nature reserves, by erecting strict limits on fishing and offshore oil and gas exploration over 3,1 million km2 - or more than a third of its territorial waters - all around its coastline.

A week later, Maldives President Mohamed Waheed announced that his country, one of the most directly affected by global warming, would become in five years "the first country to become a marine reserve" and "the largest in the world».

The area created by the Cook Islands is on its side the largest protected marine park in one piece. It represents half of its territorial waters, rich in coral reefs and home to thousands of species of fish and marine plants.

Henry Puna called on other Pacific island nations to follow suit in order to expand the reserve and form a huge protected area.

Kiribati and Tokelau have already created marine sanctuaries of this nature, while the French territory of New Caledonia, this week announced the creation in the next two or three years of a marine park of 1,4 million km2.

For Marea Hatziolos, specialist in marine and coastal spaces at the World Bank, the Cook Islands initiative will benefit both the environment and the economy of the country.

«There is really an economic dimension to this project, in addition to the protection of biodiversity. It allows the small nations of the Pacific to earn money"She told AFP.

The Marine Park will include a sensitive area where all fishing will be prohibited as well as special areas within which tourism and tightly controlled fishing will be permitted, so as to facilitate the rebuilding of stocks of species such as tuna, decimated by the commercial fishing.