President of Kiribati Visits Wins Conservation Award at New England Aquarium

(September 22, 2008) His excellency, President Anote Tong was presented with the prestigious David B. Stone Medal, an honor given to leaders in ocean conservation. The unanimous vote from the selection committee acknowledges the global magnitude of the PIPA and the unprecedented step that the Government of Kiribati has taken in declaring and then subsequently expanding the PIPA to an area the size of California. Past winners of this award include Oceanographer Jacques Yves Cousteau and Senator John Kerry. The trip also provided an opportunity for project team members to work more closely in person and this yielded positive results. President Tong also spoke at a forum on climate change at Harvard University's Center for the Environment, delivering a powerful speech on the impacts of climate change on small island states.

Photos from the David B. Stone Conservation Medal dinner

PIPA has enjoyed extensive media coverage recently from a wide variety of sources. Here are links to some of the articles:

Cosmos Magazine "World's Largest Marine Park: Size of California"

Smithsonian Magazine "Our Imperiled Oceans: Victory at Sea"

ABC News "Conservation Talks Highlight Need to Protect Island Environments"

Harvard Gazette "Island Nation President Plans for Extinction"

Living on Earth feature on the Phoenix Islands Protected Area