Side Event

Preventing Extinctions and Restoring Terrestrial Ecosystems on Islands: A Global Review of Priorities, Opportunities and Potential Benefits – Looking toward SBSTTA 16 and COP 2012

Organizer
Island Conservation & GLISPA

Date and Time
9 November 2011 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Fifteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice

Following the Aichi Biodiversity targets set after the 10th Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan, this side event to the SBSTTA 15 meeting aims to explore coordination and cooperation mechanisms to help Parties to CBD achieve their commitments to Target 9, related to invasive species and their pathways, and Target 12, related to preventing extinctions and improving the conservation status of threatened taxa. Islands represent less than 5% of the terrestrial area of the planet, and in historical modern times (the past five centuries) have been home to approximately 80% of species extinctions. Invasive Alien Species (IAS) have been implicated in more than 50% of global extinctions. Today, approximately 40% of IUCN Critically Endangered (CR) and Endangered (EN) vertebrates inhabit insular habitats, with IAS consistently identified as key threats to a majority of these. IAS also has serious negative consequences on island economy and public health, with the cost of IAS to the British economy estimated at US$2.68 billion annually, and at US$21 per year to the Seychelles economy. Preventing extinctions is a commitment accepted by the Parties under the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and poses considerable challenges to achieve. Removing vertebrate IAS from islands to prevent extinctions presents a targeted and proven opportunity to achieve this commitment. In this Side-Event, we present global data of the importance of threatened island species to preventing extinctions, examples of removing IAS vertebrates as a tool for preventing extinctions, and background to a global effort to prevent island extinctions.