Story | 27 Oct, 2021

New study identifies the South Pacific's Salas y Gomez and Nazca ridges as a conservation priority

Kristina Gjerde, IUCN's Senior High Seas Advisor, is among the co-authors of a chapter in GIS for Science Volume 3 – Maps for Saving the Planet that identifies the Salas y Gomez and Nazca ridges, off the west coast of South America, as one of the most promising places to establish a marine protected area on the high seas.

Photo: Aqqa Rosing-Asvid (CC BY 2.0)

Based on an array of global datasets and GIS analyses, this study highlights the unique combination of natural and cultural resources that make this area a key location to conserve and protect marine biodiversity. Indeed, its many seamounts and migration corridors are home to a high number of endemic species found nowhere else on Earth. As 73% of its area is found in the unprotected high seas domain beyond national jurisdiction, the Coral Reefs in the High Seas Coalition, who commissioned the study, are calling for urgent protection measures before human pressures take their toll and the area's rich marine resources are lost forever.

LINKS:

Conservation of the Last Ocean Frontier - study