Island Conservation is a non-profit organization with the mission to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from islands. Island Conservation has therefore focused its efforts on islands with species categorized as Critically Endangered and Endangered on the IUCN's Red List.[4] Working in partnership with local communities, government management agencies, and conservation organizations, Island Conservation develops plans and implements the removal of invasive alien species,[5] and conducts field research to document the benefits of the work and to inform future projects.
Island Conservation's approach is now being shown to have a wider beneficial effect on the marine systems surrounding its project areas.[6][7][8] In addition, invasive vertebrate eradication has now been shown to have many benefits besides conservation of species. Specifically, the approach has been found to align with 13 UN Sustainable Development Goals and 42 associated targets encompassing marine and terrestrial biodiversity conservation, promotion of local and global partnerships, economic development, climate change mitigation, human health and sanitation and sustainable production and consumption.[9][10]
To date Island Conservation has deployed teams to protect 1,195 populations of 487 species and subspecies on 64 islands.[11]
The work of Island Conservation is not without controversy, This is documented in the book Battle at the End of Eden.[12] Restoring islands requires removing whole populations of an invasive species. There is an ethical question of whether humankind has the right to remove one species to save others. However, a 2019 study suggests that if eradications of invasive animals were conducted on just 169 islands, the survival prospects of 9.4% of the Earth's most highly threatened terrestrial insular vertebrates would be improved.[13][14]
^"Bernie Tershy UCSC Faculty Profile". UCSC. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
^"Don Croll UCSC Faculty Profile". UCSC. Archived from the original on 19 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
^"2021 Audited Financial Statements" (PDF). Island Conservation. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
^Jones, Holly P.; Holmes, Nick D.; Butchart, Stuart H. M.; Tershy, Bernie R.; Kappes, Peter J.; Corkery, Ilse; Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso; Armstrong, Doug P.; Bonnaud, Elsa; Burbidge, Andrew A.; Campbell, Karl; Courchamp, Franck; Cowan, Philip E.; Cuthbert, Richard J.; Ebbert, Steve; Genovesi, Piero; Howald, Gregg R.; Keitt, Bradford S.; Kress, Stephen W.; Miskelly, Colin M.; Oppel, Steffen; Poncet, Sally; Rauzon, Mark J.; Rocamora, Gérard; Russell, James C.; Samaniego-Herrera, Araceli; Seddon, Philip J.; Spatz, Dena R.; Towns, David R.; Croll, Donald A. (2016-03-21). "Invasive mammal eradication on islands results in substantial conservation gains". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (15): 4033–4038. doi:10.1073/pnas.1521179113. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4839448. PMID 27001852.
^"What are Invasive Alien Species?". CBD Secretariat. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
^McCauley, Douglas (May 17, 2012). "From wing to wing: the persistence of long ecological interaction chains in less-disturbed ecosystems". Nature. 2: 409. doi:10.1038/srep00409. PMC 3354671. PMID 22624091.
^Graham, Nicolas (July 12, 2018). "Seabirds enhance coral reef productivity and functioning in the absence of invasive rats" (PDF). Nature. 559 (7713): 250–253. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0202-3. PMID 29995864. S2CID 49669772.
^"Marine Threat:Islands & Marine Biodiversity". Revive & Restore. April 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
^de Wit, Luz A; Zilliacus, Kelly M; Quadri, Paulo; Will, David; Grima, Nelson; Spatz, Dena; Holmes, Nick; Tershy, Bernie; Howald, Gregg R; Croll, Donald A (2020). "Invasive vertebrate eradications on islands as a tool for implementing global Sustainable Development Goals". Environmental Conservation. 47 (3): 139–148. doi:10.1017/S0376892920000211. ISSN 0376-8929.
^"Pursuing Sustainable Development for Island Communities by Removing Invasive Species". Island Conservation. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^"Island Conservation Mission and History". Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^"Battle at the End of Eden". Atlantic Books. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
^Holmes, Nick (March 27, 2019). "Globally important islands where eradicating invasive mammals will benefit highly threatened vertebrates". PLOS ONE. 14 (3): e0212128. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1412128H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0212128. PMC 6436766. PMID 30917126.
^"169 Islands that Offer Hope for Stemming the Extinction Crisis". Island Conservation. 2019-03-26. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
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