Cook Islands unveils world's largest marine park

Covering over one million square kilometres - 1.06 million km2 - the park will be three times the size of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Courtesy of BirdLife International   

September 2012. The world's largest marine park has been launched in the Cook Islands located in the Pacific Ocean. Covering over one million square kilometres - 1.06 million km2 - the park will be three times the size of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and twice as large as the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean that topped the list of marine protected areas (MPAs) for two years.

The ambitious undertaking is being pushed by an alliance of government agencies, conservation NGOs - including Te Ipukarea Society (BirdLife in the Cook Islands) - and the tourism industry. The marine park's formal establishment marks just the beginning of a process likely to take years..

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