LONDON—The Pew Charitable Trusts joins the Pitcairn Island Council in praising Her Majesty’s government for today’s designation of 320,465 square miles (approximately 830,000 square kilometres) as a marine reserve in the remote waters surrounding the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.

Since 2006, The Pew Charitable Trusts Global Ocean Legacy project has worked with indigenous groups, community leaders, government officials, scientists and other organizations to help protect the ocean; a part of the planet that is key to some island cultures and marine life. The Global Ocean Legacy campaign has aided in the creation of nine major marine reserves: Palau, Chagos, Coral Sea, Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands, Easter Island, Pitcairn, Kermadecs, and Papahānumokuākea. To date, Global Ocean Legacy has helped safeguard more than 2.4 million square miles of ocean. For more about the Global Ocean Legacy project please visit, globaloceanlegacy.org.

HONOLULU—The Pew Charitable Trusts joins partners in Hawaii and the scientific community in praising today’s announcement by President Barack Obama that the United States has expanded the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, also known as Papahānaumokuākea, to 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers).

Global Ocean Legacy, a project of Pew and its partners, is working with local communities, governments and scientists around the world to protect and conserve some of our most important and unspoiled ocean environments. See where we are working in the map below.