South Pacific Secretariat
The South Pacific SecretariatEBSAs in the South Pacific, Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic West identified in CBD report | News | SDG Knowledge Hub
At the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), two papers on "Ecologically or Biological Significant Areas (EBSAs)" have been published: Specific locations in the "oceans of the world" describing areas that fulfil the EBSA standards from the Western South Pacific and the wider Caribbean and the Western Central Atlantic. It identifies areas of the sea "most important for the operation of the overall maritime ecosystem" with the objective of defining areas in which the protection and exploitation of the seas should be concentrated and prioritised.
They are the result of a set of RFBD Secretariat meetings to describe areas that meet the EBSA's science requirements under the CBD work program on maritime and coastline biological diversity. The aim of this work is to improve maintenance and reclamation activities in accordance with public international laws, and to support the appropriate procedures within the UN General Assembly (UNGA), in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Seven ESA criterions exist: singularity or rareness; particular importance for life-historical phases of specimens; significance for endangered, vulnerable or diminishing specimens and/or habitat; susceptibility, frailty, sensitivity or gradual recuperation; biodiversity and the natural. The EBSAs must fulfil at least one requirement. They describe the areas and give in-depth technological information on the chosen Marine Eco-Systems and Types.
Charts show the EBSA's regionalisation. They underline the diversity of EBSAs and explain that they can appeal to specific characteristics or large marine areas and can move with seasonality or be statistic. EBSAs are identified in the report to prioritise managerial effort, but no recommendations are made for them. There are twenty-six areas meeting the EBSA standards in the western South Pacific.
The western South Pacific EBSA includes: the Phoenix Isles, Kiribati, which includes eight Arial Isles with over 500 kinds of sea life and 120 kinds of corals, two underwater cliffs, about 30 sea mountains, habitats for indigenous and threatened kinds of sea turtle and sea birds as well as hatcheries for migrating, nomad and nelagic sorts; and many more; the EBSA is the largest of its kind in the world;
Twenty two areas in the wider Caribbean and western Central Atlantic, from the Meso-American Barrier Reef to Lake Sargasso, fulfil the EBSA standards.