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A Pacific information brief from the Pacific Invasives Partnership (a working group of the Roundtable for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands)

Abstract Global changes, from habitat loss and invasive species to anthropogenic climate change, have initiated the sixth great mass extinction event in Earth's history. As species become threatened and vanish, so too do the broader ecosystems and myriad benefits to human well-being that depend upon biodiversity. Bringing an end to global biodiversity loss requires that limited available resources be guided to those regions that need it most. The biodiversity hotspots do this based on the conservation planning principles of irreplaceability and vulnerability.

This study describes the biodiversity values of Malden Island, and assesses the potential benefits, feasibility and costs of removing key invasive species.

This NISSAP has been developed to identify invasive species and priority actions to address their threats on the environment, economy and livelihood of people.

NeoBiota 30: 151-166: Research article. PFD

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.

Available online

Call Number: 344.026 SOU [EL]

ISBN/ISSN: 982-04-0089-9

Physical Description: v, ; 45 p.

The biodiversity of the Pacific region is recognised as being globally significant. The Solomon Islands was recently included into the famous "Coral Triangle", the area of ocean considered to have the highest marine biodiversity in the world. This includes the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Solomon Islands Rainforest Ecoregion is recognised as "one of the world's great Centres of Plant Diversity"

Since the early 1990s the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has been promoting the use of environmental planning and assessment processes amongst its member countries and territories. SPREP's approach to environmental planning and assessment has been part of a global programme for improving environmental management and supporting sustainable development.

Difficulties in scaling up theoretical and experimental results have raised controversy over the consequences of biodiversity loss for the functioning of natural ecosystems.

Available online

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 9 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.

Available online

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 92 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.

Earth’s 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 world’s nations.

Available online

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 10 p.

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.

How do introduced species cause problems for biodiversity? What makes a species invasive? When humans introduce non-native species to a new environment, it can have disastrous impacts on native species and the entire ecosystem.

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Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: Online video

Biodiversity on marine islands is characterized by unique biogeographic. phylogenetic and functional characteristics. Island hold a disproportionate amount of the world's biodiversity, and they have also experienced a disproportionate loss of it.

Common folders - nas.sprep.org - tobedeletedonemonthlycycle - IS4Mira - Doc-To-Load - 200706_Doc to Load

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 30 p.

Since Elton highlighted the problem of biological invasions, numerous studies have established their importance in the structural evolution of natural communities, in particular insular communities. Because of their isolation, islands are regarded as natural evolution laboratories which are characteristically very fragile once the boundary is disturbed. This fragility is illustrated by the high proportion of species extinctions observed in islands: since 1600, more than 75% of monitored disappearances have been registered in islands.

Population survey of coconut crab (Birgus latro) in the Huvalu Forest Conservation Area, Niue island, South Pacific

Unpublished report kept in vertical file collection|2 copies

Call Number: VF 2291 [EL]

Physical Description: unpaged : tables ; 29 cm

Biodiversity conservation - that is, the conservation of plants and animals that make up the species richness of a country - is widely recognised as an issue of importance for the South Pacific as it is relevant to family livelihoods, culture and economic development as well as to the unique biological story that these islands possess. The biodiversity of the region is threatened by a broad range of causes including unsustainable logging and fishing, invasive species, pollution, soil erosion, fire, habitat conversion and agricultural run-off.

The Pacific region has benefited from a number of regional and national programmes to both assess the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and develop programmes to adapt to climate change. Such programmes are critical considering that the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1/ states that the Pacific region has already experienced temperature increases of as much as 1°C since 1910.