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Created in 1977, the biosphere reserve of Taiaro is situated in the Tuamotu archipelago 540 km north east of Tahiti. Taiaro is an atoll, that is to say a ring-shaped island built up on an ancient volcano that has sunk into the ocean under the action of the drift of the Pacific Ocean floor. Taiaro is only visible because of the rim of coral that forms a barrier reef 5 km in diameter around the original volcano. Unlike the other 420 atolls listed throughout the world, the inner lagoon, is completely closed and therefore has exceptional characteristics, as yet little studied.
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Taiaro atoll has no permanent habitat and no longer conforms to the current concept of a Biosphere Reserve. A revision process was therefore initiated in 1998. It was decided to spread the reserve to cover 6 other inhabited atolls of the Fakarava Municipality. The other five atolls have a breach that communicates with the ocean making their lagoons different from that of Taiaro. This new group is to be called the Tuamotu Biosphere Reserve.
For further information, consult the list of bibliographic references
