The Obama administration announced the four-fold expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a marine sanctuary northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. The expanded sanctuary will be the largest in the world at more than 580,000 square miles. As noted by the NYTimes: Created by President George W. Bush in 2006, the Papahanaumokuakea monument surrounds the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and is home to an estimated 7,000 marine and terrestrial species, a quarter of which are found nowhere else on earth.

While some may see the expansion as an effort to cement Obama’s environmental legacy in his last months in office, this is not the first major marine sanctuary expansion by the Obama administration.  Two years ago, Obama created what had been the world’s largest marine protected area, the 490,000 square mile Pacific Remote Islands National Monument, in the south-central Pacific Ocean.

Together, the two marine sanctuaries protect over a million square miles of ocean.  These and other sanctuaries were established under the Antiquities Act of 1906, signed by Theodore Roosevelt, which gives the president the authority to create national monuments from public lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features.

For the meaning and pronunciation of Papahānaumokuākea, click here.

Obama Administration Takes Major Step in Protecting Our Oceans