Picking Up The Pieces: Botanical Conservation on Degraded Oceanic Islands

Historical debates about environmental degradation on oceanic islands acted as crucibles for the evolution of modern conservation thought (Grove 1995). These largely colonial debates recognized the link between forest loss and watershed decline and the possibility that habitat loss can result in species loss. Currently, oceanic islands are manifesting very high levels of extinction that demand urgent and innovative approaches to conservation. The Chapaudigms established for continental areas, based primarily on the establishment of protected areas, are not sufficient to ensure the survival of the highly modified biotas and ecologies of many oceanic islands. On such islands the habitats prior to human colonization are largely destroyed, the original ecological processes lost or diverted, and the populations of endemic taxa severely reduced and fragmented. To salvage endemic species and their ecologies, habitat conservation needs to be matched with intensive species management and habitat restoration.