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 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”.
Read more at University of Oxford
Photo Credit: Schäferle via Pixabay
