New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific Ocean, is home to an incredible array of marine life, including more than 1,700 species of fish and 473 species of coral. The waters of the territory’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) span 1.3 million square kilometers (501,932 square miles), within which lies one of the world’s largest lagoons.
In April 2014, New Caledonia created the Natural Park of the Coral Sea, which includes the entire EEZ. A government committee is developing a management plan that will define the regions of the park, how they will be used, and their levels of protection.
The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy team is pleased to have been invited by the government to join the park management committee. Other members include representatives from the government, local institutions, environmental organizations, local communities, international and local nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.
The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project is advocating for at least one vast, highly protected marine reserve to be included in the Natural Park of the Coral Sea. This level of protection fosters healthy marine ecosystems and maintains fish populations—particularly highly mobile and migratory species—and would help preserve the waters of New Caledonia for generations to come.
Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Bertarelli Foundation joined forces in 2017 to create the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project. This effort builds on a decade of work by both organizations to protect the ocean. Pew’s Global Ocean Legacy initiative, established in 2006, helped obtain commitments to safeguard more than 6.3 million square kilometers (2.4 million square miles) of ocean by working with philanthropic partners, indigenous groups, community leaders, government officials, and scientists. Since 2010, the Bertarelli Foundation has worked to create marine protected areas around the globe and simultaneously advance our understanding of marine science.
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The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project builds upon a decade of work by the Global Ocean Legacy campaign that has helped safeguard more than 2.4 million square miles (6.3 million square kilometers) of ocean by working with local communities, governments, scientists, and other stakeholders around the world. Read More
A map featuring the world's largest highly protected marine reserves. Read More
PARIS—The Pew Charitable Trusts today praised France’s plan to consider expanded protections for the waters around the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (known in French as Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, or TAAF) by creating a highly protected marine reserve about 550,000 square kilometers (212,356 square miles) in size, an area slightly larger than mainland... Read More