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| Conservation of Remote Atoll Archipelagos in the Phoenix Islands of Kiribati |
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The Phoenix Islands harbor incredible marine biodiversity © Dr. Gerald Allen |
The Phoenix Islands are located in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa, in the Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot. Recent surveys by the New England Aquarium reveal that the marine environment is remarkably pristine and currently holds good populations of macro-predators such as sharks, tuna, humphead wrasse and groupers. In addition, several threatened seabirds and sea turtles nest on these atolls. As a relatively untouched, largely uninhabited area, this is essentially a marine wilderness. However, the recent depletion of species such as sharks and tuna around some of the islands serves as an indicator of the vulnerability of the entire island group to growing human resource use, particularly expanding fisheries.
The government of the Republic of Kiribati is keen to explore sustainable alternatives to the current fisheries system. Indeed, as a sign of their commitment, they have already proposed an exclusion zone for commercial tuna purse seine boats for 60 nautical miles around the Phoenix Islands. Now, a team headed by the New England Aquarium, and funded by the Global Conservation Fund at Conservation International, is starting to investigate opportunities for an archipelago-wide conservation and minimal sustainable use zoning plan, financed principally through an endowed 'conservation license' that would preempt future export fisheries of coral reef resources, allow local subsistence fishing on the two populated atolls, and allow for a small amount of low-impact tourism. This innovative 'reverse fishing license' - one of the first of its kind, similar to a 'conservation concession' on land - would provide the government with a sustainable income source, which could be used to address development needs in neighboring, more populated islands.
This exciting project was featured recently in the National Geographic.
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| Learn more about the Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot |
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| New species of Wood-wren discovered in Colombia |
Adult (left) and juvenile Munchique Wood-wren © Dr. Paul Salaman | |
An international team of ornithologists recently described a new species of bird, the Munchique Wood-wren Henicorhina negreti, in the Tropical Andes hotspot. The species was discovered in the cloud forest of southwest Colombia by Dr. Paul Salaman of Conservation International’s Tropical Andes program and his British and Colombian colleagues.
The team of conservationists working with Fundación ProAves discovered the new species during biodiversity surveys on Cerro Munchique, a mountain in Colombia’s western Andean range and within Munchique National Park. The wren has a beautiful and distinctive flute-like song, quite different to that of other wood-wrens found throughout the rest of South America. It also has distinctive plumage features and measurements.
This is the first new bird species to be described electronically in the new on-line bird journal Ornitología Colombiana (Colombian Ornithology). Dr. Paul Salaman described the surprising results of their research: “We were amazed to find not one, but three similar looking wood-wrens in the highlands of Munchique National Park, each of which is highly specialized to different elevations and habitat. The new species is found only in densely saturated forest typified by perpetual cloud in the highest elevations of the Munchique massif.”
The Munchique Wood-wren is confined to the highest elevations of just one mountain (2,250-2,800 m). It is being proposed for Critically Endangered status, as its population and geographical range are extremely small. Due to its highly specific ecology, the new species is potentially threatened with extinction by ecological change caused by global warming, and by illegal deforestation, which continues to occur within Munchique National Park.
In January, at the same locality for the new wren, only the second ever population of the Critically Endangered Colorful Puffleg – perhaps the most spectacular of hummingbirds – was discovered at the same site. Owing to this and the presence of 12 other threatened and 16 endemic species, the site has been considered as an Alliance for Zero Extinction site.
Conservation International and Fundación ProAves have recently entered into an agreement with Colombia’s Environment Ministry to improve management and protection of the habitat of Munchique Wood-Wren and Colorful Puffleg.
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| Learn more about the Tropical Andes hotspot |
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| New Protected Area Action for Indonesia and the Philippines |
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The governments of Indonesia and the Philippines announced actions in February that are key to preserving vital land for threatened species such as the tiger, elephant and the Philippine Eagle as well as hundreds of indigenous communities.
In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a presidential proclamation declaring the Quirino Protected Landscape, which covers some 206,875 hectares in northeastern Luzon. This new protected area, located in the Sierra Madre mountains of the Philippines hotspot, will help safeguard species that are clinging to survival in an ever-shrinking forest ecosystem. The Quirino Protected Landscape follows on the heels of the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape that was proclaimed in October 2003.
The Indonesian government publicly committed to creating 12 new protected areas in 2004, including Tesso Nilo in Sumatra's Riau Province and Batang Gadis National Park in Northern Sumatra, part of the Sundaland hotspot. The government announced the pledge in Kuala Lumpur during the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, where member states agreed to set aside 10 percent of their lands for biodiversity conservation.
These efforts to protect biodiversity in the Philippines and Indonesia were supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and are featured in more detail in their March newsletter.
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| Important Bird Areas of the Tropical Andes |
The Critically Endangered Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis is known only from a single site in southwest Colombia © Luis Mazariegos | |
The most important sites for bird conservation in the Tropical Andes hotspot were unveiled at BirdLife International’s World Conservation Conference in Durban, South Africa from March 7-13, 2004.
The 432 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) were identified as a result of a collaborative process led by BirdLife Americas Program and Conservation International’s Tropical Andes program with the support of key stakeholders in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
IBAs are sites of global significance for the conservation of birds, selected though standardized criteria applied consistently throughout the world. IBAs are selected based on the occurrence of key bird species that are vulnerable to global extinction or whose populations are otherwise irreplaceable. This information provides a practical tool for developing and implementing conservation action at each site. The IBA Programme of BirdLife International has already completed dozens of national inventories and several regional directories in Africa, Europe and Asia.
The IBAs of the Tropical Andes have been identified for 838 species of birds, 71% of which are endemic to the region. Among these bird species, 23 are Critically Endangered, 68 are Endangered, and 102 are Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List. The Andean IBA network is comprised of 42 in Bolivia, 83 in Colombia, 106 in Ecuador, 129 in Peru and 72 in Venezuela. Thirty-two of these IBAs are the only sites in the world for a Critically Endangered or Endangered species, making them urgent conservation priorities as defined by the Alliance for Zero Extinction.
Details of each IBA will be publicly available on the web.
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| International Conference on Extinction held in Japan |
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Most species extinctions over the last 500 years occurred in the biodiversity hotspots, and most species currently threatened with extinction live in the hotspots. However, surprisingly little is known about the basic biology of extinction. It is a welcome development that the first Okazaki Biology Conference, held in central Japan in January 2004, chose to focus on the subject of extinction.
The Okazaki Biology Conference series is sponsored by the Japanese National Institute of Basic Biology. The aim is to bring together leading scientists to discuss cutting edge research on major biological problems. The inaugural conference addressed the subject of extinction - maybe the greatest biological problem of our time. The conference tackled prehistoric extinctions and the implications of contemporary global extinction for the overall tree of life. Population-level extinctions received considerable attention, as did genetic and developmental aspects of the extinction process. The conference concluded by peering into the future of extinction, anticipating the impacts of global climate change and ecosystem modification.
Many of the presentations addressed extinctions in biodiversity hotspots. Jeremy Jackson of the University of California, San Diego used palaeontological and historical evidence to illustrate the dramatic collapse of marine ecosystems in the Caribbean hotspot as a result of human activities - especially overfishing. Randal Voss of the University of Kentucky discussed how the complex life histories of salamanders in the Mesoamerica hotspot leave them particularly vulnerable to extinction. Lian Pin Koh and Navjot Sodhi of the National University of Singapore presented terrifying results showing the massive extent of extinctions across butterflies and other taxa in Singapore, and extrapolated these data to estimate extinctions across the rest of the Asian hotspots. Perhaps most worrying of all was results presented by Chris Thomas of the University of Leeds showing how climate change will dramatically impact biodiversity over and above the effects of direct threats operating to date, including examples for plants in the Succulent Karoo hotspot.
Several important aspects of the biology of extinction were not addressed by the conference. One was the question of the rate of extinction in geological time, an understanding of which is crucial to view current extinction rates in perspective. There was also very little discussion of extinctions in marine or freshwater systems, despite the fact that we know aquatic systems to already be undergoing a massive extinction crisis. Finally, there was very little mention of the applied side of the biology of extinction - how conservation can best respond to minimize the crisis. These subjects would be appropriate subjects for future Okazaki Biology Conferences.
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| In Brief |
Global Gap Analysis Reveals Hundreds of Threatened Species Left Unprotected
More than 10 percent of the Earth's land surface is protected environmentally, but this simple percentage number doesn't show the "gaps" in the protected area system. A new analysis shows that at least 300 Critically Endangered species have no protection of any kind, a startling discovery that will have a huge impact on current and future conservation strategies.
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| Learn more about the Global Gap Analysis |
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