| The archipelago of the Leeward Islands in French Polynesia, a French overseas territory since 1946, includes this island of 15 square miles (38 km2), whose name means “first born” in Polynesian. It is made up of the emerged portion of the crater of a 7-million-year-old volcano and surrounded by a coral barrier reef. Motus, small coral islands with beaches and vegetation that consists mainly of coconut trees, have developed along the reef. The lagoon’s only opening to the sea is Teavanui Pass, which is deep enough to allow cargo and warships to enter. The island was used as a military base by the United States between 1942 and 1946. All of the coral formations of the planet cover only 110,000 square miles (284,000 km2) of the sea bed, less than 0.06% of the Earth’s surface, but these areas still contain a remarkable biological diversity: about 100,000 plant and animal species have been classified there. The situation of coral is worrying—more than 60% of the world’s reefs are under threat—but it is not yet desperate: despite the damage caused by pollution, overfishing, and rising temperatures that have affected many reefs, it has been observed that the surface regeneration of coral is increasing. |
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