Tristan da Cunha

687,247 square kilometers of new protections

Lead Partners: Tristan da Cunha community and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

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85% of the world’s endangered rockhopper penguins, 80% of the world’s subantarctic fur seals, and four endemic seabird species are found in its expansive marine ecosystem. 

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Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island on earth, is a British overseas territory home to approximately 250 people located in the South Atlantic. 

Four islands make up the Tristan da Cunha archipelago – Nightingale, Tristan, Inaccessible, and Gough, with the latter two collectively recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The marine ecosystem surrounding the islands supports a productive lobster fishery, providing 80% of Tristan da Cunha’s income.  

In August 2021, the Tristan da Cunha Island Council designated over 90% of the archipelago’s exclusive economic zone as a marine protection zone spanning over 687,000 square kilometers. This designation is the result of local leadership and action by the UK government, and support by several partners including the Great British Oceans coalition. The new designation constitutes the largest protected area in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Blue Nature Alliance collaborated with the Tristan da Cunha Island Council, facilitated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to identify priority activities to support management, research, and education, strengthen community ownership and engagement, and build a global constituency in support of the new large-scale marine protected zone. 

In addition, the Alliance co-invested alongside an international partnership including the National Geographic Pristine Seas, Becht Family Charitable Trust, Blue Marine Foundation, Wyss Foundation, Kaltroco, and Don Quixote II Foundation in a conservation endowment fund. This support has allowed the Tristan community to set ambitious conservation goals.