With coral-rich Churna Island now an MPA, Pakistan takes baby steps on ocean protection

KARACHI — From the sands of Manjhaar Beach on the far outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, an island is just visible 10 kilometers, about 6 miles, offshore. Mist rising from the Arabian Sea often shrouds Churna Island from the view of sailors and tourists heading toward it for fishing or diving. Below the waves, the island harbors one of Pakistan’s biodiversity hotspots: a diverse coral community, including one of the country’s only documented reefs.

In September 2024, Churna Island and the sea surrounding it became Pakistan’s second designated marine protected area (MPA), an area of around 98 square kilometers (38 square miles). It followed the 2017 designation of the country’s very first MPA around Astola Island, a haven for coral, birds and sea turtles to the east. While Pakistan’s first two MPAs are small and have yet to be fully implemented, they represent baby steps in the country’s nascent effort to protect its marine environment.

“Given the growing anthropogenic and environmental threats to the biodiversity hotspots, it was inevitable to declare these areas marine protected areas,” Naeem Javid Muhammad Hassani, a wildlife conservator with the forest department of Balochistan province, which oversees both MPAs, told Mongabay. “Churna Island has vast coral biodiversity and Astola is home to both a variety of corals and avian species, especially the migratory birds, which needed to be protected.”