PIPA

MELAD

PO Box 234 Bikenibeu Tarawa

Phone No: 29762

PIPA In-Brief Issue 8

PIPA Newsletter The Phoenix Islands Protected Area

23 November 2012

Photo: Cat Holloway www.phoenixislands.org

The Underwater Garden of Eden launched!

On the eve of Thursday, 8 November 2012, the

New England Aquarium building in Boston USA

was full-house during the launching of the new

book titled The Underwater Eden which tells the

tales of PIPA, the largest and deepest World

Heritage Marine Protected Area.

More than 100 people turned up to celebrate the

launch of the book based on the chronological de-

velopment of PIPA from its creation way back in

the year 2000 till what is like today. The Underwa-

ter Eden was edited by Dr. Greg Stone and Dr.

David Obura. Greg first spearheaded the first scien-

tific expedition of the Phoenix Islands in 2000 ac-

companied by David and other renowned scientists.

Dr. Greg Stone talked of his first experience of the

Phoenix expedition in the celebrations and said; “ It

was the first time I’d seen what the ocean may have

looked like thousands of years ago.” He continued

to say that worldwide, the oceans are suffering.

Corals are dying off at an alarming rate, victims of

ocean warming and acidification—and their loss

threatens more than 25 percent of all fish species,

who depend on the food and shelter found in coral

habitats. Yet in the waters off the Phoenix Islands,

the corals were healthy, the fish populations pristine

and abundant and Stone and his companion on the

dive, coral expert, Dr. David Obura, determined that

they were going to try their best to

keep it that way.

Underwater Eden tells the story of

how they succeeded, against great

odds, in making that dream come

true, with the establishment in 2008

of the Phoenix Islands Protected

Area (PIPA). It’s a story of cutting-

edge science, fierce commitment,

and innovative partnerships rooted

in a determination to find common

ground among conservationists,

business interests, and govern-

ments—all backed up by hard-

headed economic analysis.

“Creating the world’s largest (and

deepest) UNESCO World Heritage

Site was by no means easy or

straight forward. Underwater

Eden takes us from the initial dive,

through four major scientific expe-

ditions and planning meetings over

the course of a decade, to high-level

negotiations with the government of

Kiribati—a small island nation de-

pendent on the revenue from the

surrounding fisheries.” Greg added.

How could the people of Kiribati,

and the fishing industry its waters

supported, be compensated for the

substantial income they would be

giving up in favor of posterity? And

how could this previously little-

known wilderness be transformed

into one of the highest-profile inter-

national conservation priorities?

Step by step, conservation and its

priorities won over the doubters, and

Underwater Eden is the stunningly

illustrated record of what was saved.

Each chapter reveals - with eye-

popping photographs - a different

aspect of the science and conserva-

tion of the underwater and terrestrial

life found in and around the Phoenix Is-

lands’ coral reefs. Written by scientists,

politicians, and journalists who have been

involved in the conservation efforts since

the beginning, the chapters brim with ex-

citement, wonder, and confidence—

tempered with realism and full of lessons

that the success of PIPA offers for other

ambitious conservation projects worldwide.

Dr. Teuea Toatu, Executive Director of the

PIPA Conservation Trust told the PIPA

Newsletter that copies of the Underwater

Eden are coming on the 4th of December

2012 and would be displayed at his PIPA

Trust Office, Nawerewere, Bikenibeu.

Photo by Regen Jamieson, NEAq.

From Left to Right: Dr. Craig Cooke, on-board

medical doctor for the 2000, 2009, 2012 PIPA

coral reef expeditions; Dr. Randi Rotjan, NEAq

Coral Ecologist; Alan Dynner, Chair, Overse-

ers, NEAq - participated in the 2009 PIPA Expe-

dition (strong financial supporter of PIPA over

the years, including donations to the implemen-

tation funding for the PIPA Trust); Dr. Larry

Madin and his wife, Kate Madin, both from

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Both

participated in the 2009 coral reef expedition to

PIPA. Larry is also on the board of directors of

the NEAq and on Conservation and Exploration

Committee; Mr. Peter Shelly, PIPA legal advisor

and Dr. Greg Stone, Senior Vice President of

Conservation and Exploration, New England

Aquarium; Executive Vice President, Conserva-

tion International, and Chairman, Phoenix Is-

lands Protected Area Conservation Trust Board

of directors. He is also leader of 2000, 2002, and

2009 expeditions. (Picture and details by Regen

Jamieson, NEAq).

Happenings in and around PIPA

The National Biodiversity Planning

Committee conducted a one-day work-

shop on Tuesday, 20th of November

2012 at the Otintaai Hotel, Bikenibeu

Tarawa. There were around 20 partici-

pants that turned up representing various relevant divisions of government minis-

tries, NGOs, Tarawa Urban Councils and

the PIPA Office. PIPA was represented

by the PIPA Education, Media and Out-

reach Officer, Mr. Betarim Rimon.

The workshop was part of a collaborative

project run by the MELAD-ECD, the

SPREP and the CI from year 2010 and

expected to finish by end of this year,

2012. Facilitators were Mr. Paul Ander-

son from SPREP, Mr. Schannel van Di-

jken from CI, Nenenteiti Teariki and

Turang Teuea-Favae from ECD .

In the opening remarks of the Ag. Direc-tor of Environment, Mrs. Nenenteiti

Teariki, she said that the ultimate goal of

the project is to identify and confirm the

priority sites for conservation and preser-

vation in Kiribati and to work with those

communities who depend on those sites

for their livelihoods - to find workable

and sustainable ways to close these sites.

Kiribati, being divided into 3 distinct and

geographically isolated groups of the Gil-

bert, the Phoenix and the Line Islands -

the project expands accordingly to iden-

tify key biodiversity or priority areas in

these groups.

In the report there are 22 Key Biodiver-

sity Areas with 3 top priority sites on

which to focus conservation and manage-

ment resources. They are Abaiang (from

the Gilbert), Rawaki (from the Phoenix)

and Kiritimati (from the Line group)

which in all account for 21% of the area.

There is a complex scientific criteria on

which selection of KBA sites was based.

These include the presence of either Criti-

cally Endangered (CR) or Endangered

species, 10 or more pairs of vulnerable

species (VU) and more than 1% of the

Kiribati Biodiversity Areas

Report Workshop

global population of threatened species.

In the Gilbert group the top 5 KBA island

sites are listed here with their ranking in

continuum order: Abaiang (92%), Abemama (81%), Nonouti (79%), Tabiteuea (79%) and

Tarawa (77%). It is interesting to note that

the heavily populated Tarawa does not come

first but fifth.

Next year the project will engage in mutual

consultations with islands that are now be-

ing identified to be designated as KBA sites.

KBA workshop at Otintaai Hotel, Bikenibeu

Tarawa (Photo by Turang Teuea-Favae)

PIPA participates in the Global

MPA Conference

Mr. Tom Redfern from the Police Mari-

time Unit left Kiribati on Thursday,

22nd of November to attend the Global

Marine Protected Area Conference to

be held in San Francisco, USA, from 25

to 28 November 2012. There are 35 coun-

tries with more than 190 participants to

attend this global event.

The WildAid, an international organiza-

tion devoting its time and resources to end

the illegal wildlife trade around the world

is organizing this global conference with

a special focus on strengthening the pro-

tection and preservations of the Marine

Protected Areas around the world.

The participation of PIPA through Tom

will provide Kiribati an opportunity to

promote its PIPA on the world stage of

experts and donors and at the same time to

share our limited capacity in protecting our

PIPA due to its vast size and remoteness.

The fruits envisaged from our participation

in this conference is the promotion of

PIPA - the biggest and deepest MPA in the

World Heritage Sites - its unique and natu-

ral beauty and its many challenges.

Tom Redfern’s participation was made

possible with the kind funding assistance

of the WildAid and PIPA Office. He will

return to Tarawa on 3rd November, 2012.

Australia - Kiribati

Security Partnerships

The bilateral talks between the govern-

ments of Kiribati and Australia was held

on Wednesday, 21 November, at the Aus-

tralian High Commission Office in Bairiki,

Tarawa. Ms. Akka Rimon from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Australian

government has always been kind to Kiribati

in lifting the heavy burden of patrolling and

guarding the vast EEZ or 3.5 million sq. km.

of the Republic of Kiribati.

Kiribati, known for its huge EEZ almost the

size of Australia, is always faced with a

costly challenge of patrolling its seas, which

has become a famous spot for poachers and

illegal fishers. No matter how much we want to protect what we claim as ours; we just can-

not afford to do so! The main Australian as-

sistance, in this Security Partnership, for more

than a decade was always directed towards

equipping the capacity of the RKS Te Anoai,

our one and only patrol ship - also donated by

the Australian government.

Amidst promising exchanges, the Australian

team expressed their earnest interest to help

protect not only the entire territory but to pay extra attention in protecting the PIPA, the

WH largest and deepest MPA. The Kiribati in

its proposal focused on the need for a larger

patrol vessel that can reach PIPA and back

without stopping over for a refill. Other idea

is for Australia to set up a fuel-farm in Kan-

ton to facilitate more frequent surveillance.

PIPA Newsletter will keep tracing full deci-

sions of the talks especially those that will

benefit PIPA.

The PIPA mission to Kanton scheduled to

travel on RKS Te Anoai on the 20th of Novem-

ber 2012 and to return on 10 December was

put on hold for two main reasons. Since the 7th

of this month, the Kanton Task Force had been

working hard in planning its schedule to Kanton

and its mission on the island.

The PIPA Management Committee in its meeting

of 19th November 2012, noted with gratitude the

great work the Task Force has put in the planning.

The Chairman, Manikaoti Timeon went on to

explain to the Committee that while everything is

ready, there are two issues that now stand in the

way. First, the PIPA Management Group has not

met yet over the Skype - to approve funding for

the trip owing to poor internet signal and there-

fore funding would not be available. Secondly,

the schedule will clash with the House of Parlia-

ment. The Committee agreed to defer the mission

to early next year, 2013.

PIPA Mission to Kanton Island

put on hold