New Caledonia Barrier Reef
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How it came to be
In New Caledonia in the South Pacific, a barrier reef surrounds the main island of Grande Terre, the Île des Pins and smaller islands, enclosing a lagoon with an average depth of 25 metres. It is one of the world's three most extensive reef systems, with 146 reef types under a global classification, and it equals or surpasses the much larger Great Barrier Reef in coral and fish diversity.
The lagoon holds the world's third-largest population of dugongs, and green turtles nest there. Sediment from nickel mining and farming on the main island has damaged reefs near river mouths.
In January 2002 the French government proposed the reefs for the World Heritage List, and on 7 July 2008 they were inscribed as the Lagoons of New Caledonia, in six marine clusters. Thirteen local committees of tour operators, fishers, politicians and tribal chiefs monitor the lagoons.
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