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Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Management Area

Palau (Asia and the Pacific)

Date of Submission: 06/11/2007
Criteria: (iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)
Category: Mixed
Submission prepared by:
Koror State Government
State, Province or Region:

Koror State, Republic of Palau

Description

The Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Management Area of Koror State (referred to as Management Area) has unparalleled biological, cultural and economic value to Palau. This Management Area not only provides the foundation for Palau's tourism industry and in turn, the nation's economy, it contributes substantially to the nation's health through commercial and subsistence harvesting of its natural resources. This area is also an essential component of Palau's cultural heritage, host too much of Palau's rich biological diversity, and home to critical habitat for the country's threatened and endangered species. But these resources are under increasing pressure as Palau develops, and must be properly managed to ensure the long-term well being of Palau's biodiversity, culture and economy.

The Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area is endowed with a unique and stunning landscape of limestone islands, marine lakes, and coral reefs. The Management Area is within an area of 600 km2 enclosed by 86 km of barrier reef on the east (ocean side) and 112 km on west (lagoon side) with substantial openings to the Pacific Ocean on the northeast side. Within the barrier reef is a large lagoon area with extensive fringing and patch reef systems with about 500 patch reefs and 150 fringing reefs (Maragos et al. 1994). The lagoon extends well to the north of the Management Area on the west side of Koror and Babeldaob and varies in depth from 10-40 meters. The area contains approximately 424 limestone islands formed when tectonic activity thrust ancient coral reef and seabed above sea level: 397 are steep "Rock Islands," and 27 are low islands on the barrier reef.

There are approximately 50 marine lakes contained within the Rock Islands in the Management Area, connected to the lagoon via fissures and tunnels in the limestone rock. These unique lakes were formed approximately 10,000 years ago when the sea level rose, filling jungle covered depressions within the porous limestone.

Justification for Outstanding Universal Value

Satements of authenticity and/or integrity

The Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area is a complete ecosystem that includes all the waters, reefs, limestone islands and all the flora and fauna within the ecosystem. The limestone forests found in the Management Area are well intact and preserved in good condition as they have been protected by the steep and difficult terrain, and by strict controls on harvesting of trees (only for cultural and traditional purposes) from the area. The Rock lslands forests are a key part of the unique landscape that attracts tourists to Palau, and they are also important habitat for rare birds and animal species.

The different reef types (barrier, fringing, patch), channels, limestone islands, and beaches are all included In the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area. All major habitats from aggregation channels, seagrass beds, mangrove forest to the native limestone forest are all found in the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area. The size of the area is adequate to cover all the unique features and process occurring in the Management Area. Endangered species and unique flora and fauna are still found in the Rock lslands Southern Lagoon Area.

The area includes many natural and cultural sites that are still intact and managed under Koror State Government and traditional leadership. While some parts of the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon are open to visitors, the whole area is actively managed according to a 5-year management plan. Extensive monitoring and evaluation of this comprehensive 5-year management occurs every year and on a long- term basis. Koror State must continue to take these steps to achieve full sustainable resource management over its Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area.

Comparison with other similar properties

The Rock lslands Southern Lagoon Area of Palau has no comparable area in the World Heritage Sites. While other areas include reefs and Islands; the Rock Island-Southern Lagoon Management Area is composed of hundreds of islands and reefs and it covers both unique geological and biological systems and cultural systems. The limestone islands contain unique marine lakes many organisms that are being exposed to different evolutionary process than the surrounding waters. The Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area showcase the unique relationships between culture and environment and the interconnections between the people and their culture and the environment.

The size of the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area is smaller than the Great Barrier Reef but the marine diversity is comparable. The Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area has some of the most diverse marine environments packed into a relatively small area. It is different from the Great Barrier Reef in terms of the density of the rock islands (over 500) in a relative small area (642 km2). The Great Barrier Reef does not have as many islands as the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area and their density is much lower. The rock islands are also unique because of the presence of marine lakes with their unique biota.

Other listed sites such as, Aldabra, East Rennel and Henderson lslands are raised atolls. The Rock lslands are not atoll islands; rather, they are raised high limestone islands. The geological process that caused the formation of the rock islands is very different from the geological processes that cause the formation of atoll islands. The Rock-Islands-Southern Lagoon Area is also different of these sites in terms of its marine diversity. In the Indo-Pacific, diversity drops as we move from the west to east, so places like East Rennel does not have as high diversity as the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area. In addition, the Rock Islands-Southern Lagoon Area holds well-preserved limestone forests that are untouched by commercial logging activities, in comparison with other Pacific sites.