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Phoenix Islands World Heritage Area

Kiribati (Asia and the Pacific)

Date of Submission: 07/03/2007
Criteria: (vii)(viii)(ix)(x)
Category: Natural
Submission prepared by:
Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development
State, Province or Region:
Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati, Central Pacific
Ref.: 5111

Description

The Phoenix Islands site herewith submitted on the World Heritage Tentative List of Kiribati comprises all islands of the Phoenix Group (Phoenix/(Rawaki, Enderbury, Nikumarono, McKean, Manra, Birnie, Kanton, Orona) and two submerged reefs out to 60 nautical miles which is the declared boundary of the existing Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

Within Kiribati, the proposed Phoenix Islands World Heritage Area may be expanded to include elements in the Line Islands group through a three-stage approach:

Phase 1:            Phoenix Islands

Phase 2:            Uninhabited Islands of the Southern Line Islands Group  

Phase 3:            Selected properties in the Northern Line Islands Group

This Tentative List entry concerns phase 1 only. Work on the inscription of Phase 1 as a World Heritage site is expected to commence in the near future, in conjunction with the development of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area announced by the Government of Kiribati in March 2006 at the Convention on Bidoversity COP8 meeting in Brazil. Pending government approval and subsequent public consultations, the Kiribati World Heritage Tentative List may be re-submitted to include Phase 2 and 3 sites.

The Phoenix Islands World Heritage Area (and possible additions through phase 2 and 3) may in future constitute the Kiribati component of a transboundary Central Pacific Islands and Atolls World Heritage Area, encompassing islands and atolls in Kiribati, the Cook Islands, the United States of America and French Polynesia.

The Government of Kiribati declared the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) in March 2006 to comprise all of the Phoenix Islands group's 8 atolls and two submerged reefs out to a boundary of 60 nautical miles from each atoll.  The PIPA is the basis of the proposed Phoenix Islands serial natural World Heritage property and consists of a series of geologically ancient atolls and reef islands and adjacent marine areas in the Central Pacific. The atolls and reef islands function as critical refugia for migratory, resident and breeding marine and terrestrial biota; critical habitat for endemic, depleted and endangered species (both terrestrial & marine); and illustrate evolutionary stages of volcanic subsidence and corresponding reef growth culminating in the formation of large biogenic structures.

The Phoenix Islands are the central island group of Kiribati, between the Gilbert Islands to the west and the Line Islands to the east. The group comprises eight reef islands and atolls with two submerged reef systems.  Two outlying islands north of the equator, Baker and Howland, are United States territories.  Located over one thousand nautical miles north of Fiji, the Phoenix Islands are among the remotest islands in the Central Pacific.  All but one are uninhabited, although most have a cultural history extending over 150 years.  The inhabited atoll, Kanton, consists of a government administrative population of approximately 50 people.

The islands are virtually free of the degrading influence of fishing and coastal development and resemble near-pristine ocean conditions. Their selection as phase 1 of a possible Kiribati Central Pacific World Heritage Project takes place in recognition of primarily near-pristine status and high natural values, and the high degree of protection offered the islands by their isolation. The Phoenix Islands are the focus of a joint conservation management project between the Government of Kiribati and the New England Aquarium, Boston (USA) and Conservation International (CI), which will provide support for protection of the islands' World Heritage values.

The site includes the following reef islands and atolls:

Phoenix (Rawaki)

Enderbury

Nikumarono

McKean

Manra

Birnie

Kanton

Orona

The declaration of the PIPA has resulted in international recognition of the Phoenix Islands as the world's third largest marine protected area. The management plan for the Phoenix Islands is in preparation as well as a sustainable financing mechanism based on compensation to Kiribati for lost commercial fishing revenue and the costs of managing the protected area.

Justification for Outstanding Universal Value

Satements of authenticity and/or integrity

As of 2006, the Phoenix Islands and a surrounding zone of 60 nautical miles around each island constitute the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the third largest marine protected area in the world. The site is protected by the Kiribati declaration with new and supporting legislation currently under development. Financing for the management and future conservation of the site has been secured through the ongoing Phoenix Islands Protected Area project, which is in the process of setting up a national project office and an endowment fund to ensure the site's long-term sustainability and viability. It is expected that the potential threats to the site as described below will be significantly reduced as a result of the establishment of the PIPA.

As small isolated islands, the Phoenix Islands are most vulnerable to resource extraction from inshore fisheries by unlicensed illegal foreign vessels. The islands have been targeted by shark fin fishers in the past. Other high-value fisheries such as the live reef fish trade, aquarium fish, and sea cucumbers pose significant threats. Terrestrial threats include the potential for unplanned settlements and tourism developments, and possibly high-tech facilities related to satellite communication or space programs, as well as increases in invasive/pest species populations. Climate change is an over-arching threat for these low-lying islands from sea level rise (though individual islands may be rising tectonically) and to the coral reefs from warming sea surface temperatures that may result in coral bleaching. In 2002, the islands experienced a bleaching event and are now showing rapid signes of recovery.  Already coconut crab populations have been severely depleted by expeditions related to the search for the remains of Amelia Earhart (on Nikumaroro).

The reef islands and atolls of Kiribati form a part of the World Heritage Central Pacific project that aims to establish a transboundary and serial World Heritage site extending from the reefs and islands of the Central and South Pacific US territories, through Kiribati and Cook Islands to French Polynesia. Work is being undertaken simultaneously in all the countries to prepare the World Heritage nomination of their respective islands and reefs. Eventually all these sites could be included in one serial and transboundary World Heritage site.

Comparison with other similar properties (Comparative Analysis):

The Phoenix Islands are unique in relation to all the above-listed values. Therefore there is no basis for comparison with any existing World Heritage site. The only other natural World Heritage sites in the Pacific is East Rennell in the Solomon Islands, Henderson Island in the Southern Central Pacific, and Galapagos and Cocos Islands at the Western rim of the ocean.

The Kiribati contribution to the proposed Central Pacific Islands and Atolls serial World Heritage site is unique also in the sense that it embraces the whole continuum of a mid-oceanic reef island and atoll archepeligo while existing World Heritage sites consist of either one island or - in the case of Galapagos - a small archipelago. The Kiribati coral islands and atolls are also among the first to be included in any Pacific World Heritage listing (Rennell was an atoll many thousands of years ago but geological uplifting has now rendered it raised limestone island). Most unique about the Kiribati contributions is their ancient age (up to 80 million years old) and their uninhabited status at the time of their modern rediscovery during the past two centuries. 

The only other island groups with comparable seabird populations and diversity in the world's tropics and subtropics are the Kiribati Line Islands and the remote island refuges of the USA, viz. Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Jarvis (Nth. Line Is.), and Baker & Howland (Phoenix Is.). Island groups with significant seabird populations & diversity include Galapagos, Clipperton Atoll (France), Ducie, Henderson & Oeno (Pitcairn Group), Christmas Is (Australia), Gough Is. (Atlantic), Aldabra & a few other Seychelles Is. such as Aride & Cousin (Indian Ocean).

In comparison with the proposed Northern Marshall Islands Atolls World Heritage site, it is noteworthy that the two proposed sites lie in different biogeographical areas, with the NMIA lying at the northeastern corner of the Micronesian region. While the NMIA reef system may exhibit higher species diversity, the degree of endemism would be higher in the Phoenix islands. While the NMIA has experienced human activity for a period of more than 3,000 years, the Phoenix Islands have remained largely undisturbed throughout most of their history.

A document entitled Seabird Islands of Global Importance (2004) by Angela Kay Kepler concludes that the Phoenix Islands have traditionally been recognized as (together with the Line Islands to be considered in Phase 2 and 3) the most prolific and globally important seabird islands in the world for decades.  This is because they have been largely untouched and are largely uninhabited, in contrast to most other island groups.