登錄在聯合國教科文組織（UNESCO）世界遺產中的43個海洋遺產管理人上周首次在檀香山齊聚一堂，探討海洋遺產在工業化、海洋酸化和過度捕撈危害下的保育之道。
在UNESCO擔任文化助理常務主委的法蘭塞斯科‧班達林（Francesco Bandarin）表示：「『世界遺產』一詞會激發一種使命感，讓人們想要保護這些既獨特又富於指標性的場域。全世界6000個海洋保護區裡，也只有43個地區的保育工作得到UNESCO世界遺產的國際最高認可」。
第一件獲得UNESCO認可的海洋遺產，是1981年登錄進世界遺產名單的澳洲大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef Marine Park）；而截至目前為止，已經有140萬平方公里的海洋得到世界遺產的保護，面積相當於全球海洋的0.4%，幾乎是整個墨西哥灣的大小。世界遺產的地位也賦予當地政府及保育人士足夠的影嚮力去阻隔經濟發展所帶來的破壞。
此次聚集的焦點是為了慶祝「巴巴哈納摩古阿克亞國家海洋保護區」成功登錄為世界遺產。巴巴哈納摩古阿克亞國家海洋保護區（Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument）位於夏威夷群島的西北方，區域內涵蓋了數座小島形成的島鏈、環礁、沙洲以及綿延1200英里的海岸。它是前美國總統布希在2006年6月15日劃定的保護區。
「巴巴哈納摩古阿克亞」的名稱來自夏威夷當地關於島嶼的形成和起源的古老傳說。傳說中，夏威夷原住民的祖先──大地化身成的母親「巴巴哈納摩古」與天空化身成的父親「瓦克亞」結合，因而孕生了現在的夏威夷群島。
巴巴哈納摩古阿克亞國家海洋保護區在2010年7月30日成為美國第一個名列UNESCO世界遺產的複合景點。之所以稱為「複合」，是因為當地原住民仍保留著許多古老的傳承，使得該保護區成為全球第一個兼具文化與自然價值的世界遺產。
2005年時，州長林格爾（Lingle）在夏威夷西北一帶的島嶼沿岸設立了州立海洋保護區，限制保護區內除了研究和管理目的以外的一切活動。其後，她與布希政權合作促成國家海洋保護區，其且主導了申列世界遺產的作業。
現今世界海洋遺產所面臨到的生態威脅大多來自人類的活動，諸如排水管的廢水以及垃圾。這些海上的廢棄物往往纏住海洋生物或被鳥類等動物誤食。
巴巴哈納摩古阿克亞國家海洋保護區目前只開放給管理（由三個機構共同管理）、研究、教育以及原住民的活動使用。另外也允許小規模的商業拖網、遠洋拖釣，以及中途島環礁的歷史行腳等旅遊活動。
Managers of the 43 marine sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List met for the first time last week in Honolulu to explore ways of conserving these unique areas jeopardized by industrialization, acidification and overfishing.
"World Heritage - the very words evoke the global mission to protect the most exceptional and iconic places in the world," said Francesco Bandarin of Italy, UNESCO's assistant director general of culture.
"Out of nearly 6,000 marine protected areas now designated worldwide, only 43 have the highest internationally recognized status for conservation, UNESCO World Heritage Listing," he said.
Marine World Heritage was first recognized by UNESCO in 1981 with the inscription of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park on the World Heritage List.
Today, 1.4 million square kilometers of ocean - about 0.4 percent of the world's oceans or an area about the size of the Gulf of Mexico - are protected under the World Heritage Convention, including five of the world's 10 largest marine protected areas. World Heritage status can provide governments and conservationists with the leverage to halt damaging economic development.
Highlighting the event was Friday's commemoration of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument's inscription on the World Heritage List.
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a string of tiny islands, atolls, shoals, and banks stretching across 1,200 miles of the Pacific Ocean northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, was created by former President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006.
The name Papahānaumokuākea (pronounced Pa-pa-hah-now-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah) comes from an ancient Hawaiian tradition concerning the genealogy and formation of the Hawaiian Islands.
Papahānaumoku is a mother figure personified by the Earth and Wākea is a father figure personified in the expansive sky; the two are honored ancestors of Native Hawaiian people. Their union resulted in the creation, or birthing, of the Hawaiian archipelago.
On July 30, 2010, Papahānaumokuākea was designated as the first mixed UNESCO World Heritage site in the United States. It is the world's first cultural seascape recognized for its continuing connections to living indigenous people.
In 2005 Governor Lingle signed regulations establishing a state marine refuge in the near-shore waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that excluded all extractive uses, except those permitted for research or management. She advocated for the creation of the marine national monument with the Bush administration, and guided the process of applying for UNESCO World Heritage status.
Most of the threats to the ecosystems of marine World Heritage sites are posed by human activities, such as dumping of wastewater from vessels and the proliferation of marine debris that entangles birds and animals or that they ingest.
Current uses of the Papahānaumokuākea World Heritage site are limited to management activities by the three agencies that jointly manage the site, research, education, Native Hawaiian practices, a small scale commercial bottomfishing and pelagic trolling operation, as well as recreational trips and visits to historical sites at Midway Atoll.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
