Environmental security

World's largest marine protected area declared in Antarctica

Delegates from 24 countries and the European Union have agreed that the Ross Sea in Antarctica will become the world's largest marine protected area (MPA).

Some 1.57 million sq km (600,000 sq miles) of the Southern Ocean will gain protection from fishing for 35 years.

Environmentalists have welcomed the move to protect what's said to be the Earth's most pristine marine ecosystem.

They believe it will be first of many such zones in international waters.

At this meeting in Hobart, Australia, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) agreed unanimously to designate the Ross Sea as an MPA, after years of protracted negotiations, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced.