Book contents
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor’s note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Environmental keystones: Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- SI prefixes
- Unit abbreviations
- Chemical formulae
- Part I Sustainable Development: Theories and Practices
- Part II Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
- 17 Scientific responses in an era of global change
- 18 Government communication on transboundary haze: The nexus between public health and tourism
- 19 Biomass energy prospects: A promising fuel for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific
- 20 Pathways to a more sustainable electricity sector in India
- 21 Gender equality and energy access: Barriers to maximizing development effectiveness in the SAARC region
- 22 The biosphere and the interactions between stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change
- 23 The political challenge of linking climate change and sustainable development policies: Risks and prospects
- 24 Social vulnerability to climate change in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam
- 25 Sustainable development in Bangladesh: Bridging the SDGs and climate action
- 26 Sustainable development in Pakistan: Vulnerabilities and opportunities
- 27 Beyond protected areas: Biodiversity conservation and global change in Asia and the Pacific
- 28 Causes of land-use change and biodiversity loss in Monsoon Asia
- 29 Assessing linkages between land use and biodiversity: A case study from the Eastern Himalayas using low-cost, high-return survey technology
- 30 Where to invade next: Inaction on biological invasions threatens sustainability in a small island developing state of the tropical South Pacific
- 31 Did the Indian Ocean tsunami trigger a shift towards disaster risk reduction?
- 32 Cyclone Nargis and disaster risk management in Myanmar
- Index
- Endmatter
- References
30 - Where to invade next: Inaction on biological invasions threatens sustainability in a small island developing state of the tropical South Pacific
from Part II - Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2021
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor’s note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Environmental keystones: Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- SI prefixes
- Unit abbreviations
- Chemical formulae
- Part I Sustainable Development: Theories and Practices
- Part II Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
- 17 Scientific responses in an era of global change
- 18 Government communication on transboundary haze: The nexus between public health and tourism
- 19 Biomass energy prospects: A promising fuel for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific
- 20 Pathways to a more sustainable electricity sector in India
- 21 Gender equality and energy access: Barriers to maximizing development effectiveness in the SAARC region
- 22 The biosphere and the interactions between stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change
- 23 The political challenge of linking climate change and sustainable development policies: Risks and prospects
- 24 Social vulnerability to climate change in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam
- 25 Sustainable development in Bangladesh: Bridging the SDGs and climate action
- 26 Sustainable development in Pakistan: Vulnerabilities and opportunities
- 27 Beyond protected areas: Biodiversity conservation and global change in Asia and the Pacific
- 28 Causes of land-use change and biodiversity loss in Monsoon Asia
- 29 Assessing linkages between land use and biodiversity: A case study from the Eastern Himalayas using low-cost, high-return survey technology
- 30 Where to invade next: Inaction on biological invasions threatens sustainability in a small island developing state of the tropical South Pacific
- 31 Did the Indian Ocean tsunami trigger a shift towards disaster risk reduction?
- 32 Cyclone Nargis and disaster risk management in Myanmar
- Index
- Endmatter
- References
Summary
Oceanic island ecosystems contain a disproportionate number of Earth’s terrestrial species, many of them endemic or indigenous to only one or a few islands. Consequently, the importance of islands in the quest to protect terrestrial biodiversity has been increasingly recognized and included in global environmental agreements. Nevertheless, oceanic island ecosystems remain extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance and its impacts, particularly in terms of the uncontrolled spread of introduced species, so-called biological invasions, leading to substantial biodiversity loss and fundamental changes in ecosystem functioning and structure. The South Pacific region is a hotspot of biodiversity but also has the world’s highest concentration of invasive alien plant species. Although the issue of biological invasions has been increasingly acknowledged by local governments and international agreements, invasive alien species are often not monitored properly on Pacific islands. Furthermore, knowledge of the potential impact of invasive alien species regularly does not result in on-the-ground action, adding to the growing extinction threat. This inaction persists despite international and national efforts for sustainable use and nature conservation of terrestrial biodiversity in the region’s Small Island Developing States. We illustrate this problem with two relatively recent biological invaders in Fiji: the ivory cane palm (Pinanga coronata) and the green iguana (Iguana iguana). We use these examples to examine the potential consequences of continuing inaction, despite awareness in relevant government departments, for native forest biodiversity and human livelihoods. Through an examination of the institutional background, we discuss steps towards good governance and sustainable development of terrestrial biodiversity in the Small Island Developing States of the tropical South Pacific, where on-the-ground action to control, eradicate, and prevent invasive alien species is desperately needed.
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- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives , pp. 393 - 406Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
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