History
Concerns were expressed in the early 1970s about the effect of phosphate mining on the flora and fauna of Christmas Island. A particular focus was on the habitat of Abbott's Booby (Papasula abbotti), which appeared in danger of extinction. In 1974 a governmental committee examined the environmental impact of mining and other commercial activities and advised on measures to protect the island. The committee's recommendation that an area of the island be set aside for conservation was implemented in a series of measures culminating in the establishment of the Christmas Island National Park on 21 February 1980 under the terms of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.
The park initially covered the south-west corner of the island, and was extended in 1986 and 1989 to include most of the rainforest on the island. Today the park covers approximately 85 km2 (33 sq mi), or 63% of the island.
Read more about this topic: Christmas Island National Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“In the history of the United States, there is no continuity at all. You can cut through it anywhere and nothing on this side of the cut has anything to do with anything on the other side.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)