East Rennell

Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, East Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world, formed when the original reef was pushed above sea level by tectonic movement, leaving Lake Tegano at its centre, the largest lake of saline origin on any Pacific island. Unlike most natural World Heritage sites, run by government parks agencies, East Rennell remains under the continuous customary ownership of the local community under the traditional land tenure system of the Solomon Islands, with no direct state management equivalent — an unusual model among the natural sites on the world list, and one that has raised particular conservation challenges, including its listing as a site in danger between 2013 and 2025 through illegal logging in its buffer zones.