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Article: South Pacific - the facts: ... tropical storms are hitting the South Pacific more often - but they cause less permanent damage than the global market ...
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- June 1, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A VERY SPECIAL PLACEThe Pacific Ocean is the earth's largest single geographical feature and contains:three-quarters of its active volcanoes (1)an estimated half of its remaining fishfour-fifths of its islandsa quarter (1,200) of its languages -- 700 in Papua New Guinea alone (1)enough water to swallow every landmass -- and still leave room for another continent the size of Asia (1)THE SOUTH PACIFIC REGION CONTAINS THE EARTH'S:highest ratio of ocean to land -- 1 square metre of land per 10 square kilometres of ocean (1)highest proportion of endemic species per unit of land area or per human inhabitantdeepest marine trench -- the Marianas ...