Islands are biodiversity hotspots yet, paradoxically, are also extinction hotspots

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Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Island conservation efforts are systematically failing due to 33 distinct barriers, primarily occurring at the organizational level, which prevent nations from meeting critical biodiversity targets despite islands being global extinction epicenters.
• Methodology: Researchers conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 32 conservation practitioners working across the Western Indian Ocean (specifically Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros, and Madagascar) to identify and categorize obstacles to effective ecosystem management.
• Key Data: The study classified 55% of the identified barriers as organizational issues, with the most frequent causes being limited staff capacity (23.5%), lack of government coordination (21.6%), and insufficient financial resources (21.6%).
• Significance: This research highlights a "fragmentation of efforts" where a lack of data sharing and collaboration exacerbates the vulnerability of island ecosystems, which house 20% of global biodiversity but account for 75% of known extinctions.
• Future Application: Proposed solutions include restructuring funding models to extend beyond standard 2-3 year cycles, creating dedicated data management positions, and establishing formal networks for inter-island collaboration to share successful strategies.
• Branch of Science: Conservation Science and Environmental Management
• Additional Detail: The study emphasizes that economic and social wellbeing in these regions is highly dependent on biodiversity, making the identified "implementation gap" a critical socio-economic risk as well as an ecological one.

The impacts of invasive alien species, habitat loss and climate change are compounded in small island nations, which are highly dependent on biodiversity for their economic and social wellbeing. The failure to meet global biodiversity targets clearly indicates the need for more effective biodiversity management and conservation efforts, and this in turn requires better understanding of the current barriers to success.

Research with island conservationists in the Western Indian Ocean revealed a raft of barriers operating across management levels, which interfere with their ability to achieve local and national conservation objectives. The most common problems were limited capacity, limited resources and a lack of government coordination. These barriers hinder the ability of countries to meet national targets and contribute to global biodiversity targets. The paper was published today in Conservation Science and Practice.

April Burt, from the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, said, ‘By defining these barriers through systematic research, they can be brought forward for discussion between practitioners across management levels.’

One conservation practitioner described the “fragmentation of efforts”, whereby practitioners have “no idea what is happening on other islands”, and are “all doing the same thing, in slightly different ways but not sharing lessons learned”.

April Burt said, ‘This lack of connection and collaboration makes it difficult to track and synthesize conservation management outcomes, compile national data, identify successful (and unsuccessful) actions and ultimately to maximize resource use and effective management.’

One of the most surprising findings was the prevalence in which conservation practitioners had encountered egos and interpersonal conflict within senior management as a major barrier. One practitioner described how “historic ‘egos’ govern organizations from a top-down approach”.

Although the study focuses on the main barriers, it also highlights potential solutions.

April Burt says, ‘It is important to recognize that, despite the barriers outlined in this study, there is a huge amount of crucial and successful conservation work being carried out by the region’s practitioners. Many of these have already recognized certain barriers and are proactively dealing with them; for example, by creating data management positions or by developing collaborations with research institutes to facilitate data analysis.’

One example provided was of an NGO who coordinates annual meetings for focus groups on seabirds and one of the long-term endemic land bird species recovery programs, despite no longer receiving project funds to do this.

Finally, April Burt says, ‘Finding meaningful solutions relies on us being honest, realistic and self-critical, but implementing them will require national level investment. Only by doing so can we increase the effectiveness of our management across local and national levels and maximize our chances of achieving global biodiversity targets.’

Published in journal: Conservation Science and Practice

Title: Defining and bridging the barriers to more effective conservation of island ecosystems: A practitioner's perspective

Authors: April J. Burt, Ana Nuno, and Nancy Bunbury

Source/Credit: University of Oxford

Reference Number: en112321_01

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