Largest World Heritage Site by area

The largest World Heritage Site by area to have been inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. Covering 408,250 km2 (157,626 sq mi) – which is larger than Paraguay or almost four times the size of Iceland – the marine reserve encompasses the entire Phoenix Islands archipelago, which forms part of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati between Hawaii and Fiji. It was inducted in 2010, with UNESCO citing its biodiversity-rich coral-reef habitats and seamounts, home to some 800 different types of fauna, including 500 fish species and 200 coral species.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is also the deepest World Heritage Site, plunging to a maximum depth of 6,147 m (20,167 ft) below sea level.

With this project, UNESCO aims to “encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.”

The first World Heritage Sites (comprising 12 sites, beginning with Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands) were officially inscribed by UNESCO in 1978.