Management

Protected areas are central in strategies to conserve biodiversity. Effective area-based conservation relies on biodiversity data, but the current biodiversity knowledge base is insufficient and limited by geographic and taxonomic biases. Public participation in biodiversity monitoring such as via community-based monitoring or citizen science increases data collection but also contributes to replicating these biases or introducing new ones.

This document presents a synopsis of the current state of knowledge for hawksbill turtles in the western Pacific Ocean region, including biological and ecological knowledge of nesting and foraging populations, legislative provisions, and detailed recommendations and proposals for addressing identified deficiencies.

The Aleipata group of offshore islands have been identified as one of eight Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in Samoa. They are located at the south-eastern end of Upolu Island at 14o3’447.28”S, 171o25’23.84”W (Nu’utele) and 14o4’22.11”S and 171o24’36.17”W (Nu’ulua) offshore. This project updates population estimates and establish baseline data and information on breeding seabirds of the Aleipata offshore islands and investigate the feasibility of future tracking studies of some species.

Healthy mangrove ecosystems are critical for global climate action – playing a key role in carbon storage and in building resilience to a rapidly warming world. Mangroves stabilize coastlines, reduce erosion, foster biodiversity growth and protect coastal communities by building their adaptive capacity and making them more resilient to the impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise, storms and coastal erosion, Mangroves prevent more than US$65 billion in property damages and reduce flood risk to some 15 million people every year.

Protected areas are a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation, and typically support more natural and undisturbed habitats compared to unprotected lands. The effect of protected areas on intra-specific ecological niche has been rarely investigated. Here, we explore potential differences in ecological niche properties of birds and mammals across protected and unprotected areas, and relate such differences to species traits.

Experiences from the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development regarding their medium grant under the EU-ACP BIOPAMA Action Component focusing on management interventions for the Kiritimati Island Conservation Protected Area.

Deciding when to protect threatened species habitat when complete knowledge about the habitat extent is uncertain is a common problem in conservation. More accurate habitat mapping improves conservation outcomes once that habitat is protected. However, delaying protection to improve accuracy can lead to species decline or, at worst, local extinction when threats to that habitat continue unabated before protection is implemented. Hence, there is a trade-off between gaining knowledge and taking conservation action.

Advances in spatial biodiversity science and nationally available data have enabled the development of indicators that report on biodiversity outcomes, account for uneven global biodiversity between countries, and provide direct planning support. We urge their inclusion in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

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Three mangrove restoration methods were tested at Nu’uuli, Tutuila Island, American Samoa. Since clearing 27 years ago converted the mangrove into a mudflat, the ecosystem was sufficiently altered that it could not self-correct; the ecosystem showed no natural regrowth despite an ample supply of propagules.

This package/collection of training materials constitute an introductory, basic-level training to open source GIS software (QGIS) targeting technical-level government officers. The primary goal of the material is to provide participants with the tools to visualise, map, and collect spatial data for more effective planning and management of protected areas.