US: Obama creates the largest protected place on the planet, in Hawaii

(WashingtonPost) - President Obama on Friday created the largest ecologically protected area on the planet when he expanded a national marine monument in his native Hawaii to encompass more than half a million square miles.

The president more than quadrupled the size of the Papahanaumokuakea (pronounced “Papa-ha-now-moh-koo-ah-kay-ah”) Marine National Monument to 582,578 square miles of land and sea in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

President George W. Bush established the monument a decade ago, but Obama’s action Friday underscores the high priority he has placed on issues of conservation and climate change in his second term. The president has now used his executive authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect more than 548 million acres of federal land and water, more than double the set-asides of any of his predecessors.

Many scientists, environmentalists and Native Hawaiians have argued for more stringent protections for the biologically rich region, given important deep-water discoveries in the area and the dual threats of climate change and sea-bed mining.

“The oceans are the untold story when it comes to climate change, and we have to feel a sense of urgency when it comes to protecting the ocean that sustains us,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who helped broker a compromise with groups including Native Hawaiians and day-boat fishermen.

In his official proclamation, Obama declared, “It is in the public interest to preserve the marine environment.”

All commercial extraction activities, including fishing and future deep-sea mining, will be prohibited in the expanded monument area. However, recreational fishing, removal of resources for traditional Hawaiian cultural purposes and scientific research will be allowed with a federal permit.

Obama will highlight his action in an address Wednesday to the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders and the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, and will travel the following day to Midway Atoll, which is located within the current monument.

The president has unilaterally established more than two dozen national monuments, most of them in his second term. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama “would be happy to sign into law a piece of legislation that would have protected these waters, but we haven’t seen that kind of legislative activity in this Congress, and it means the president has had to make more effective use of his executive authority.”