Nauru
Nauru was one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean (the others were Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia). The phosphate reserves on Nauru are now almost used up. Phosphate mining in the plateau has left a barren terrain of limestone pinnacles up to  high. Mining has stripped and devastated about 80 per cent of Nauru's land, and has affected the surrounding Exclusive Economic Zone. About 40 per cent of marine life has been killed by silt and phosphate runoff.