Phoenix Islands Conservation Area

Introduced species of animals and plants have a negative impact on the ecosystem of the islands. Local birds suffer from the destruction of eggs and young animals, local plants are suppressed by the alien flora . Alien plants and animals that have appeared on the islands over time include Asian rats , rabbits , cats , ants , pigs , dogs, and lantana ^{[5] [6]} .

Before the creation of the reserve, the last large-scale study of the animal world of the Phoenix Islands was carried out in the 1960s. In 2006, a new study was undertaken, the task of which was to determine the current distribution of alien species and the feasibility of a program to restore populations of local animals and plants. According to its results, it was concluded that pests, especially rabbits on Ravaki Island and Asian rats on McKin Island, should be removed from the islands ^[5] .

The appearance of rats on McKin Island is associated with the crash of a fishing trawler off its coast in 2002. A 2006 study showed that rat predation led to the almost complete destruction of populations of petrels, terns and other birds ^[6] . Rabbits on Ravaki occupied the same ecological niche as birds, while destroying the resources necessary for them and trampling nests ^[5] .

As a first step in restoring the island’s biological diversity, in 2008, McKin and Rawaki Islands were cleaned from rats and rabbits. An audit conducted in November-December 2009 showed that the program yielded positive results. A team of scientists found that for the first time in 10 years, the birds successfully bred offspring at McKean. On Ravaki, the restoration of vegetation allowed the birds to find new places for nesting, including frigates found plants suitable for breeding. In addition, populations of butterflies and other seabirds living in the reserve were restored. In July 2011, a second island cleaning expedition was launched, which took place on Enderbury and Byrne . On both islands, Pacific rats were an alien species threatening the ecosystem.

On January 30, 2009, the Republic of Kiribati sent a request to UNESCO to include the Phoenix Islands Conservation Area on the World Heritage List . The nomination was the first since the country ratified the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 2000.

On August 1, 2010, at the 34th session in Brasilia , the capital of Brazil , the World Heritage Committee supported the decision to include the reserve on the list. Thus, it became the largest and deepest World Heritage Site in the world.

Since 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) tested the hypothesis that the missing pilot in 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Noonan, Fred landed on Nikumaroro Island ^[7] . Numerous evidence from archival surveys and expeditions to the islands showed that the plane could land on a reef bordering the atoll and then drown at high tide. Earhart and Noonan at the same time remained on an uninhabited island that did not have sources of fresh water. In 1940, a representative of the British Colonial Service discovered on the southeastern coast of the island a partially preserved skeleton and something similar to a camp . Bones and other evidence were sent to the headquarters of the British administration in Fiji , but were subsequently lost. According to modern estimates of measurements made by a British doctor in 1941, the skeleton supposedly belonged to a woman from northern Europe with a growth approximately corresponding to that of Earhart ^[8] . Other items found at the site where the camp was supposedly located belonged to a woman from the 1930s. Among them were also things that Earhart usually carried with her ^{[9] [10]} . The serial numbers that were allegedly on the box with the sextant found next to the skeleton corresponded to the type of device that Noonan used ^[11] .