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Publication year : 0
Thematic : Conservation
Language : English
Note
Oceania is a diverse region encompassing Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand, and
Polynesia, and it contains six of the world’s 39 hotspots of diversity. It has a poor record for extinctions,
particularly for birds on islands and mammals. Major causes include habitat loss and degradation, invasive
species, and overexploitation. We identified six major threatening processes (habitat loss and degradation,
invasive species, climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and disease) based on a comprehensive review
of the literature and for each developed a set of conservation policies. Many policies reflect the urgent need
to deal with the effects of burgeoning human populations (expected to increase significantly in the region)
on biodiversity. There is considerable difference in resources for conservation, including people and available
scientific information, which are heavily biased toward more developed countries in Oceania. Most scientific
publications analyzed for four threats (habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation, and pollution) are
from developed countries: 88.6% of Web of Science publications were from Australia (53.7%), New Zealand
(24.3%), and Hawaiian Islands (10.5%). Many island states have limited resources or expertise. Even countries
that do (e.g., Australia, New Zealand) have ongoing and emerging significant challenges, particularly with
the interactive effects of climate change. Oceania will require the implementation of effective policies for
conservation if the region’s poor record on extinctions is not to continue.
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Keywords : Miniopterus macrocneme
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
