President Obama has signed off on the creation of the largest protected region on the planet.

The national marine monument, just off the coast of his native Hawaii, will now stretch some 582, 578 square miles, more than four size the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument that President George W. Bush engineered during his tenure more than a decade ago.

Creation Stems from Climate Change Concerns

Obama's actions are largely seen as a testament to his commitment to conservation and climate change. In wielding his executive authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act, the president's order protects more than 548 million acres of federal land and water, more than double what any of his predecessors have done.

Scientists, environmentalists and native Hawaiians alike have all been clamoring about recent scientific deep-water discoveries and other threats to climate change they are convinced demand more stringent protection of certain remote and biologically rich regions.

"The oceans are the untold story when it comes to climate change, and we have to feel a sense of urgency when it comes to protecting the ocean that sustains us," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who helped broker a compromise proposal with groups including native Hawaiians and day-boat fishermen.

Indeed, the president detailed the area's environmental and cultural significance in voicing his proclamation, adding, "It is in the public interest to preserve the marine environment."

All commercial extraction activities, including commercial fishing and any future deep-sea mining, will now be prohibited in the expanded monument.

The president will showcase his announcement in an upcoming address before the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders and the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu. He is also scheduled to soon travel to Midway Atoll, which is located within the current monument.

Seven presidents, dating all the way back Theodore Roosevelt more than a century ago, have now taken steps to safeguard part of the archipelago, which is one of the most biologically diverse areas of the world.

Among its features are the largest seabird gathering site in the world, one boasting more than 14 million birds from 22 species, nearly all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green sea turtles and Laysan albatrosses.

In addition, recent research has unearthed such finds as the world's oldest living animal - a black coral estimated to be 4,500 years old - and six massive seamounts, one of which is nearly 14,000 feet high and brimming with life.

Area Designated

"We're seeing a lot of life, a lot of new life and a lot of very old life," said National Oceanic and Atmospheric researcher Daniel Wagner. "Things have not been disturbed for a very long time.

UNESCO previously designated the area a world heritage site in 2010 and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has cited the area's "deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture."

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