FLICKR, SUZANNE
Officials from 24 nations and the European Union on Friday (October 28) signed an agreement to create a marine reserve that will encompass 1.55 million square kilometers of the Antarctic Ocean, the largest marine sanctuary in the world, Nature News reported. The deal, which will ban commercial fishing in about three quarters of the reserve, represents unprecedented cooperation among global leaders to conserve ocean ecosystems, according to The Guardian.
The plan was first proposed in 2010 by the United States and New Zealand, but had long been opposed by Russia. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement the agreement was finally reached “thanks to many years of persistent scientific and policy review, intense negotiations, and principled diplomacy.” Leaders signed the deal after ...
