Tiny Pacific Island Vows to Protect 100% of Its Waters

The island of Niue, located in the Pacific Ocean, is pledging to protect the totality of the waters surrounding its territory, in an exemplary decision meant to save biodiversity and the ecosystem from outside threats and to decrease the impacts of climate change.

“We are doing our part to protect what we can for our future generations, just as our forefathers did for us,” says Niue’s premier, Dalton Tagelagi. “The ocean is everything to us. It’s what defines us. We have to ensure our reefs and corals remain to provide a healthy ecosystem and continue to create a food source for our people.”

Niue’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) spans 317,500 square kilometers – harboring one of the world’s largest raised coral atolls – and is home to the katuali, a sea snake that lives in the island’s honeycomb of underwater caves. It is also the birthing site of humpback whales and has the world’s highest density of grey reef sharks. Niue monitors its marine park thanks to a satellite surveillance company, Global Fishing Watch, and neighboring Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, and New Zealand will be part of a monitoring team by conducting surveillance operations. Some 50 countries vowed to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030, and Palau is willing to protect 80% of its EEZ. Niue follows in Cook Islands’ footsteps with the total protection of its waters.