IUCN Directory of Protected Areas in Oceania

476 Pages·1991·16.2 MB·English

by  Paine, J.R., WCMC, IUCN, SPREP

lUCN
Directory of
Protected Areas
Oceania
in
Compiled by the
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
lUCN - The World Conservation Union
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lUCN Directory of Protected Areas
Oceania
in
lUCN -THE WORLD CONSERVATION UNION
Founded in 1948, lUCN - the World Conservation Union - is a membership organisation
comprising governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), research institutions, and
conservationagenciesinover 100countries. TheUnion'sobjectiveistopromoteandencourage
the protection and sustainable utilisation oflivingresources.
Several thousand scientists and experts from all continents form part of a network supporting
the work of its six Commissions: threatened species, protected areas, ecology, strategy and
planning, environmental law, and education and communication. Its thematic programmes
include forest conservation, wetiands, marine ecosystems, plants, the Sahel, Antarctica, and
population and sustainable development. These activities enable lUCN and its members to
develop sound poUcies and programmes for the conservation of biological diversity and
sustainable developmentofnaturalresources.
WCMC -THE WORLD CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE
The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) is a joint venture between the three
partners in the World Conservation Strategy, lUCN - the World Conservation Union, the
WorldWideFundforNature(WWF),andtheUnitedNationsEnvironmentProgramme(UNEP).
Its mission is to supportconservation and sustainable development by collecting and analysing
global conservation data so that decisions affecting biological resources are based on the best
availableinformation.
WCMC
has developed a global overview database of the world's biological diversity that
includes threatened plant and animal species, habitats of conservation concern, critical sites,
protected areas of the world, and the utilisation and trade in wildlife species and products.
WCMC
Drawing on this database, provides an information service to the conservation and
developmentcommunities,governmentsandUnitedNationsagencies,scientificinstitutions,the
WCMC
business and commercial sector, and the media. produces a wide variety of specialist
outputs andreports basedon analyses ofits data.
lUCN Directory of Protected Areas
Oceania
in
Compiled by
James R. Paine
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
in collaboration with the
lUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas
and the
South Pacific Regional Environment Programme
lUCN - The World Conservation Union
1991
UK
Publishedby: lUCN, Gland, Switzerlandand Cambridge,
UK
Prepared by: The WorldConservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge,
ProductionofthisDirectory was supportedin partby dieEast-West Centerof
Honolulu,Hawaii,throughagranttotheCenterfromtheJohnD.andCatherine
T. MacArthurFoundation.
A contribution toGEMS -the Global Environment Monitoring System.
X
pi
«ORlDaJMSERVATION
MONITORINGCENTRE
Copyright: (1991) InternationalUnionforConservationofNatureandNaturalResources
Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial
purposes is authorised withoutpriorpermission from the copyrightholder.
Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without
the prior written permission ofthe copyrightholder.
Citation: lUCN(1991).lUCNDirectoryofProtectedAreasinOceania. Preparedbythe
World Conservation Monitoring Centre. lUCN, Gland, Switzerland and
Cambridge,UK. xxiii + 447 pp.
ISBN: 2-8317-0069-8
Compiled by: James R. Paine
UK
Printed by: Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd.,
Coverphotos: NgerukewidIslands WUdlifePreserve, Republic ofPalau.
WWF/IUCN: Douglas Faulkner
Producedby: lUCNPublicationsServices Unitondesktoppublishingequipmentpurchased
through a gift from Mrs JuliaWard
Availablefrom: lUCNPublications Services Unit,
219c Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CBS ODL, UK
or
lUCN Communications Unit
Avenue du Mont-Blanc, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
The designations ofgeographical entities in this book, and die presentation ofdie material, do
not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of lUCN or WCMC or other
participatingorganisations concerningthe legal statusofany country, territory, orarea, orofits
authorities, orconcerning the delimitation ofits frontiers or boundaries.
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
Acknowledgements x
WCMC
Managinginformation onprotectedareas at xiii
Infonnation sheets: guidelines to theircontents xv
Information sheets onprotected areas xvii
References xxi
Annex 1: Categories andmanagementobjectives ofprotectedareas xxii
Annex 2: lUCN threatened species categories xxiii
CookIslands 1
Summary ofprotected areas 8
Map ofprotectedareas 9
Information sheets 10
FederatedStatesofMicronesia 21
25
FUi
Summaryofprotectedareas 30
Mapofprotectedareas 32
33
Information sheets
France-French Polynesia ^5
Summary ofprotected areas 49
Map ofprotected areas 50
51
Information sheets
France-New Caledonia 59
^
Summary ofprotected areas
Map ofprotected areas 66
67
Information sheets
France-Wallis and Futuna 89
Summary ofprotected areas 92
93
Kiribati,Republicof
Summary ofprotectedareas 98
Map ofprotected areas 99
^00
Information sheets
Mar^alllslands, Republic of 119
Summary ofprotectedareas 122
Map ofprotectedareas 123
12'+
Information sheets
Nauru 131
135
Niue
Northern Mariana Islands, Commonwealth of 139
Summaryofprotected areas 1'*^
Map ofprotectedareas 1^3
1^
Information sheets
Page
Palau,Republicof 157
Summary ofprotectedareas 160
Map ofprotected areas 161
Information sheets 162
Papua New Guinea 167
Summary ofprotected areas 177
Map ofprotected areas 181
Information sheets 182
Solomon Islands 239
Summary ofprotectedareas 247
Tokelau 253
Tonga, Kingdom of 257
Summary ofprotected areas 265
Map ofprotected areas 266
Information sheets 267
Tuvalu 281
USA -American Samoa 285
Summary ofprotected areas 290
Map ofprotectedareas 291
Information sheets 292
USA-Guam
301
Summary ofprotectedareas 306
Mapofprotected areas 307
Information sheets 308
USA -Hawaii 327
Summary ofprotected areas 335
Map ofF*rotected Areas 338
Information sheets 339
Vanuatu 371
Summary ofprotected areas 378
Map ofprotectedareas 379
Information sheets 380
Western Samoa 387
Summary ofprotected areas 395
Map ofprotected areas 397
Information sheets 398
Other Pacificlslands 407
Summaryofprotectedareas 407
Map ofprotectedareas 408
Information sheets 409
Geographical Index 431
Taxonomic Index 435
VI
FOREWORD
The islands of the Pacific conjure up visions of warmth, beauty and colour set in a vast
ocean ... aparadisecapturedinwordsbyJamesMichenerandOscarHammerstein.Thisimage
perhaps accounts for the fact that, for too long, Oceania has been a backwater in the world's
conservationpriorities. Ithasconsiderableconservationneeds,butlacksthelargeanimalspecies
which capture public imagination andfunding support.
Oceania is blessed with great diversity but saddled with the vulnerability of small islands
and the limitedresources ofmicro nations, while many ofits people seek a consumer-oriented
lifestyle.
NGO
Fortunately,in-countrygovernmentand efforts,backedbyregionalinitiativesandgrowing
international support, are tacklingtheparticularproblems which besetconservation in this vast
regionofscatteredislands.
The publication of this lUCN Directory ofProtected Areas in Oceania is a positive step in
building uppublic awareness in the Pacific nations and territories, in the Oceaniaregionandin
the world at large.
Oceania, as covered by this Directory,extends fromits largest landmassin PapuaNewGuinea
intheeasttoChile's IsladePascua (EasterIsland) in thewestandfromtheislandsofHawaiiin
the north to Australia'sLordHowe Islands and New Zealand's Kermadecs in the south.
Setdedinitially some 20,000 years ago and subsequentiy colonised by voyagers across its vast
AD
expanse ofwater, most ofthe habitable islands ofOceania were occupied by around 1000
variouslybyMelanesian, MicronesianandPolynesianpeople. Theirislandhomeswerediverse.
Low coral islands or atolls, coral islands orreefs lifted from the ocean floor, emerging as high
atollsonlimestoneplatforms,islandsofvolcanicorigin,andcontinentalislands.Isolatedislands
saw theevolution ofunique floraandfaunawith many endemic species.
Traditional constraintsonresource use and, in largerareas andsurrounding seas, an abundance
ofnatural resources meant thatcommunities lived inrelative harmony with theirenvironment
European "discovery" between the 16th and 18th centuries and then Western colonisation
impacted significantiy onthe situation, with the introduction ofalien species,changingpattems
ofresource use, and exploitation of forests combining to have a devastating impact on many
indigenous species and theiroften small andfragile habitats.
Independence brought a new range ofchallenges to often tiny nations made up ofsmall island
communitiesacrossanoceanwhosefisheriesattractedsometimesdestructivefishingtechniques
fromoutside the region and whose community-basedland tenure systems foundithardtocope
with Western concepts ofprivate ownership.
In such acontext,regional cooperation andinnovative approaches toresourcemanagementand
protectedareas arevital andare having apositive impact, as theDirectory shows, withprogress
intheestablishmentofprotectedareas,includingsomewithadistinctiveSouthPacificcharacter,
suchasPapuaNewGuinea'swildlifemanagementareasestablishedandmanagedbycustomary
landowners.
vii
lUCNDirectoryofProtectedAreas in Oceania
In 1975,NewZealandhostedtheFirstSouthPacificConferenceonNationalPariesandReserves
in Wellington and in 1976 a key initiative was taken by the South Pacific Forum, the political
associationofindependentPacificcountries. Consultation withotherregional bodies, including
theSouthPacific Commission (SPC),ledin 1982toadecisiontosetupaSouthPacificRegional
Environment Programme (SPREP) located with SPC in Noumea, New Caledonia. The small
SPREP Secretariat implements a wide-ranging work progranime among which the field of
protectedareasandnatureconservationisofparticularimportance.RelatedSPREPprojectsdeal
with problems of introduced species, bird conservation, and the establishment and effective
managementofterrestrial andmarine protected areas.
TheSecondSouthPacificconferenceonprotectedareaswasheldinAustraliain 1979,but,since
itsestablishment, SPREP has taken the leadinorganising the two subsequent suchconferences
atministerial level, heldinWestern Samoain 1985 andVanuatuin 1989. SPREPworks,too, to
implementtworegionalconventions,theConventionontheConservationofNatureintheSouth
Pacific (Apia Convention) andthe Convention forthe Protection ofthe Natural Resources and
Environmentofthe South Pacific Region (SPREP Convention).
While SPREPdoes notquitecoverthe whole ofthe Oceaniaregiondealt with in theDirectory,
its definition ofthe South Pacific is wide enough to cover 22 island states or territories across
29million sq. kmofocean, approximately the size ofAfrica.
Themostencouraging signforthe future is theconfidence theOceanic states have in SPREPas
a coordinating and innovating body working in cooperation with UNEP, lUCN - The World
ConservationUnion,andotherbodies such as theHonolulu-basedEast-WestCenter, theWorld
WideFundforNature andothernon-governmental organisations.
The publication ofthis Directory is welcomed by lUCNandits Commission onNationalParks
andProtectedAreas,whoseVice-ChairforOceania,losefatuRetiofWesternSamoa,isaformer
SPREPCoordinator.
Theconfident hope is thattheDirectory willencourage the island states andterritories to focus
evenmoreon the importanceofprotectedareas, workingthroughSPREP'scoordinatingefforts
andwithgreatersupportfromtheworldconservationcommunity.Suchareasarevitaltopreserve
thebiologicaldiversitywhichis theregion'soften uniquenatural heritageandtoprovide a base
for environmentally sensitive tourism which can capitalise on the world's positive image of
Oceania as aregion ofbeauty andpeace.
P.H.C. Lucas
Chair, lUCN Commission on National Parks andProtectedAreas
Wellington, NewZealand
vin