Australia announced that it will expand the extension of its Antarctic marine park, home to various species such as penguins, seals and whalesas well as the only active volcanoes in the country.
Through a statement, the Australian State reported that the expansion of the marine reserve, which includes the Heard Island and McDonald Island 1,700 kilometers from Antarctica, will quadruple.
Likewise, it was established that the measure will aim to strengthen the efforts of conservation in the region proposed by the United Nations (UN) for 2030, as well as protecting a 52 percent of the ocean territory Australian.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek described the decision as a “great environmental victory“. “This is a unique and extraordinary part of our planet. “We are doing everything possible to protect it,” he added.
Although several environmental initiatives have come to fruition, Richard Leck, head of oceans at WWF-Australia, said the country still had a “significant amount of work to do to ensure our network of marine parks is complete, adequate and representative.”
Finally, Leck stressed that the final plan did not protect “some of the islands’ highest priority conservation areas,” such as critical foraging habitat for king penguins and the black-browed albatross “exposed to pressures such as commercial fishing.”
