CONSERVATION

It is time for conservation to think outside of the box! That is, outside of the box-like boundaries of parks. Parks play an important role in achieving conservation goals. However, the vast majority of the world's ecosystems are part of a human dominated land or seascape. To make conservation a way of life in these areas, we need to align conservation and development goals.

Coral reef marine protected areas and a rating of the effectiveness of protection. (Adapted from: Mora et al. 2006. Coral Reefs and the Global Network of Marine Protected Areas. Science 312(5781): 1750.)

Current Action

Formal coral reef conservation efforts in Kiribati have been very limited until recently. Like many Pacific Island nations, traditional management of marine resources disappeared with colinization. The colonial government took marine resource property rights away from the local communities and gave them to the national government. At the same time, new types of fishing gears overtook traditional techniques. Currently, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resource Development perceives itself as caught between conservation and development goals.

Despite the major challenges of the main Kiribati Islands, the Kiribati government has made tremendous progress in the less populated islands of the Phoenix and the Line Islands. In March 2006, Kiribati created the third largest marine protected area in the world, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. With the help of Conservation International and the New England Aquarium, Kiribati set a precedence for marine conservation in the Pacific. Christmas Island, in the Line Islands, has been nominated as a World Heritage Site. If declared, this will be an important first step in creating management plans for the resources of Christmas Island.

FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

The Kiribati Islands represent the range of possibilities for the coexistence of humans and coral reefs. They harbor pristine reefs with subsistence economies, slightly modified reefs with semi-commercial fishing, and, at the capital, highly degraded reefs with a booming human population and cash economy. The Kiribati government recognizes that marine resources and their prospects for development are intimately related. They also recognize that they are at a cross roads.

We expect that the Kiribati Islands Expedition will show that conservation and development can be complimentary goals, that reefs dominated by top predators and corals have higher levels of fish biomass overall and are more resistant to human impacts. We will use the results from the Kiribati Islands Expedition, along with results from a complimentary economic survey that is being conducted by Sheila Walsh in cooperation with the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Finance, to make predictions about how different development goals may affect the health of the coral reef and the welfare of the people who depend on this resource.

CRITICAL TIMING!!!

The Kiribati government just passed important legislation giving the ownership of marine resources back to the individual island councils. It is now a critical time to provide rigorous scientific information that will facilitate the creation of new management strategies.

Photo credits: HEADER © 2006 Kevin Lafferty