World's largest marine park unveiled at Pacific summit

AVARUA: The world's largest marine park, a vast swathe of ocean almost twice the size of France, was unveiled by the Cook Islands at the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Henry Puna said the 1.065 million square kilometre (411,000 square mile) reserve is "the largest area in history by a single country for integrated ocean conservation and management".

Puna said protecting the Pacific, one of the last pristine marine eco-systems, was the Cooks' major contribution "to the well-being of not only our peoples, but also of humanity".

"The marine park will provide the necessary framework to promote sustainable development by balancing economic growth interests such as tourism, fishing and deep sea mining with conserving core biodiversity in the ocean," he said.

The park was unveiled as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) opened with a spectacular Polynesian welcoming ceremony.

Heralded by traditional drummers and blaring conch shells, leaders of the 15-nation grouping were carried to the summit venue in the Cooks Islands' capital Avarua on litters, while flag-waving locals cheered enthusiastically.

While some leaders such as Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard looked somewhat sheepish as they were paraded aloft before the crowd, Puna burst into song after greeting them, delighting the locals with an impromptu lounge tune.

Gillard and her New Zealand counterpart John Key wore garlands of flowers around their necks, before a spear-carrying chieftain in a headdress decorated with shells and feathers performed a customary welcoming ceremony.

Dancers in grass skirts added to the Polynesian pomp for an event organisers said was one of the largest in the nation's history, rivalled only by a visit from Queen Elizabeth II in 1974.

"This is certainly the biggest thing to happen here for decades," one official at the ceremony told.

The Cook Islands protected zone will be the largest single marine park in the world, taking in the entire southern half of the nation's waters.