The Cook Islands, a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean, formally announced the creation of the world's largest marine park Tuesday at the opening of the 43rdPacific Islands Forum in the capital, Rarotonga.

Prime Minister Henry Puna said the more than 600,000 square mile reserve is the largest area in history by a single country for integrated ocean conservation and management and will cover a vast patch of the ocean nearly twice the size of France -- no small feat for a country whose combined landmass is barely larger than that of Washington, D.C.

"It is a major contribution to the well-being of humanity," Puna stated. "This is the Pacific challenge we face. Do we take this challenge on with a name and identity that makes us small and not linked with the ocean in our own eyes and the eyes of the world? Or do we stand together with renewed pride and commitment as the world's largest ocean-island states?"

The Pacific Islands Forum, founded in 1971, brings together 16 independent and self-governing states in the Pacific Ocean to work for a common cause. While they are often thought of as small island nations, their lands are mostly ocean, and their territories are some of the largest on earth, covering 8 percent of the planet.

These 16 members of the secretariat have been at the forefront of mitigating the effects of climate change, and the plan for the Cook Islands, to be legally established by 2013, is only the start. With the technical and scientific support of U.S.-based Conservation International, they have laid out an ambitious plan to protect some 25 million square miles of ocean, an area larger than the surface of the moon.

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"We believe, in fact, I know, that this is the largest multinational conservation initiative in history," Peter Seligmann, co-founder and CEO of Conservation International, said from his hotel room in Rarotonga. "This is the largest number of nations and the largest area geographically."

If you look at these island nations, he said, their waters are all connected, so what one does affects the other.

"What we are seeing is a rallying call, first with Kiribati, now the Cook Islands and New Caledonia, which will announce a 870,000 square mile marine protected area."

On Wednesday, New Caledonia, the Cook Island's Pacific neighbor and a former French territory, also announced that it would create a new marine park to protect an area roughly half the size of India.

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Cook Islands, New Caledonia Unveil World’s Largest Marine Parks - And It’s Just The Beginning