Invasive alien species represent an insidious and pervasive threat to the environmental, economic and human well-being of the Pacific islands. Pacific island ecosystems make up one of the worlds important biodiversity hotspots, with high numbers of endemic species that are particularly vulnerable to extinction due to their limited habitat and isolation.|This book is intended to serve as a practical guide, calling attention to the need to link emergencies, disasters and development, not only in policy statements, but in practical ways.
Invasive alien mammals are the major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation on islands. Over the past three decades, invasive mammal eradication from islands has become one of society's most powerful tools for preventing extinction of insular endemics and restoring insular ecosystems. As practitioners tackle larger islands for restoration, three factors will heavily influence success and outcomes: the degree of local support, the ability to mitigate for non-target impacts, and the ability to eradicate non-native species more cost-effectively.
IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.
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Physical Description: 116 p
Vanuatu is located in the South Pacific Ocean (about three quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia) and includes more than 80 islands, of which about 65 are inhabited.
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Physical Description: 253 p
In 2010, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 20112020, and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets, to catalyze national and international conservation efforts and reverse negative biodiversity trends
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Physical Description: 4 p
This national ocean policy aims to protect and increase the value of resources of ocean and also the inherent value of the marine ecosystems and species upon which that wealth relies on.
Policy|Available online
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Physical Description: 30 p
The world is facing a biodiversity crisis. Nowhere is that more apparent than on oceanic islands where invasive species are a major threat for island biodiversity. Rats are one of the most detrimental of these and have been the target of numerous eradication programmes; a well-established conservation tool for island systems.
Earths most highly threatened terrestrial insular vertebrates (111 of 1,184 species). Of these, 107 islands were in 34 countries and territories and could have eradication projects initiated by 2020. Concentrating efforts to eradicate invasive mammals on these 107 islands would benefit 151 populations of 80 highly threatened vertebrates and make a major contribution towards achieving global conservation targets adopted by the worlds nations.
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Physical Description: 10 p.
Fisheries - effects of marine protected areas on local fisheries: evidence from empirical studies.
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Physical Description: 27 p
The impacts of house mice (Mus musculus), one of four invasive rodent species in New Zealand, are only clearly revealed on islands and fenced sanctuaries without rats and other invasive predators which suppress mouse populations, influence their behaviour, and confound their impacts. When the sole invasive mammal on islands, mice can reach high densities and influence ecosystems in similar ways to rats.
Following the incursion of rats (Rattus rattus) on Taukihepa (Big South Cape Island; 93.9 km²) off southern New Zealand in 1963, and the subsequent extirpation of several endemic species, the New Zealand Wildlife Service realised that, contrary to general belief at the time, introduced predators do not reach a natural balance with native species and that a safe breeding habitat for an increasing number of at risk species was urgently needed.
Rat eradication is a highly effective tool for conserving biodiversity, but one that requires considerable planning eff ort, a high level of precision during implementation and carries no guarantee of success. Overall, rates of success are generally high but lower for tropical islands where most biodiversity is at risk. We completed a qualitative comparative review on four successful and four unsuccessful tropical rat eradication projects to better understand the factors influencing the success of tropical rat eradications and shed light on how the risk of future failures can be minimised.
Our SoE Report spans seven themes and 18 sub-topics. For example, the Atmosphere and Climate theme has the sub-topics of Climate Adaptation, Ozone Depleting Substances and Greenhouse Gases and Physical Climate.
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Physical Description: 6 p
The Oceania region is very prone to natural disasters having experienced two Category 5 cyclones in as many years; Tropical Cyclone (TC)Pam struck Vanuatu on 13 March 2015 and TC Winston struck Fiji on 20 February 2016.
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Physical Description: 92 p
Who are we? UN Environments specialist biodiversity assessment centre, based in Cambridge, UK
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Physical Description: 16 p
Marine invasive species have received much less attention than terrestrial species worldwide. In the Pacific, the marine environment provides us with a significant part of our diet and income. Marine Managed Areas focus on protecting these important resources for livelihood purposes, biodiversity and ecosystem function, tourism and many other benefits. Although invasive species management is more difficult in the marine environment, it is not something we can neglect, and the efforts we put in need to increase. This guide seeks to provide some options for this management.
The aim of this consultancy is to prepare a broad analysis of legal and institutional options for the establishment and management of Conservation Areas in fourteen independent Pacific Island countries. The full terms of reference for the consultancy are annexed at Appendix 1.
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Call Number: 344.026 SOU [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 982-04-0089-9
Physical Description: v, ; 45 p.
In June/July 2002 an eradication programme to remove Pacific rats from Maninita Island in the Vava'u group of the Kingdom of Tonga was initiated. The techniques used were similar to those
used in successful rat eradications in New Zealand, in that Pestoff 20R pellets and a network of bait stations were used.
Conditions on the island were not what was expected, the forest having been adversely affected by cyclone Waka and subsequent defoliation by caterpillars, resulting in an open forest canopy. Rats were found to be present on the island in high numbers and were breeding.
For one of the species potentially at some risk of poisoning under the proposed rat eradication regime, the Friendly Ground Dove, Nuutele and Nuulua hold populations that are nationally significant. The complete loss of these populations would threaten the survival of the taxon in Samoa. Some authors consider the Samoan doves to be a separate race (Gallicolumba s. stairi) from those in Fiji and Tonga (Watling, 2001). Outside Samoa, the race is only found on the small island of Ofu,
The islands of Nu'utele and Nu'ulua have been identified as highly significant sites for conservation in Samoa. They hold large populations of species currently found nowhere else in the country' including threatened land-birds, seabirds and nesting
turtles. They also are the only offshore islands large enough and far enough offshore to be considered as refuges for several of the nation's species threatened on the larger islands by introduced mammalian pests. Such refuges have assumed greater