See also: Bush takes aim at the environment with late rule changes
ONE of the George W. Bush’s final acts as US president could be to create the largest marine conservation area in the world. White House officials say that Bush is considering a proposal to turn up to 2.3 million square kilometres of tropical waters, coral reefs and remote island atolls in the Pacific Ocean into US National Monuments (see map).
“As bad as his environmental record has been, he could, as one individual, protect more of the Earth’s surface than anyone else in history,” says Lance Morgan of the US .
Advertisement
Under the of 1906, a president does not need congressional approval to preserve public land or water for conservation as a National Monument. In 2006, Bush used the act to designate a 365,000 square kilometre Marine National Monument incorporating the northernmost islands of Hawaii, creating the world’s largest protected marine area. In late August this year, he announced his interest in conserving additional areas of the Pacific Ocean.
The US claims jurisdiction over a number of small islands and atolls across the Pacific, including American Samoa, Wake Island and the Northern Mariana Islands. For every sand spit and coral reef jutting above the water line, the US retains exclusive rights to the surrounding waters for 370 kilometres in all directions. It is in these areas that Morgan has been working with the White House on a deal to secure permanent “no-take zones” for fishing and mineral extraction. This also includes the , the planet’s deepest ocean canyon.
Island leaders have protested the plan, citing the economic loss it represents if marine resources are declared off limits. So far this has not deterred White House officials. “It’s not a foregone conclusion that we’ll have monuments, but it’s a distinct possibility,” says James Connaughton, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality. According to Connaughton, Bush may conserve smaller areas immediately surrounding reefs and other biologically rich areas, leaving the remaining seafloor available for possible future mining.
Morgan is urging White House officials to conserve the full 370-kilometre zone surrounding the islands to give fragile coral ecosystems the best chance of survival. “When we’ve set aside areas in the past, we’ve often realised later they were too small to eliminate interference from outside human activities,” he says.
See also: Bush takes aim at the environment with late rule changes
