The Micronesia Challenge

December 22, 2005

Islands around the world play a unique role in global biodiversity yet are facing conservation threats amplified by their unique geography, from rising sea levels to invasive species. For small island countries, these threats have entire societies hanging in the balance.

Recognizing the urgent needs of his country, its people and its lands and waters, the president of Palau has issued a challenge to Micronesian nations that may have implications for islands conservation around the globe. On November 5, President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. called on his peers to join him in the Micronesia Challenge to effectively conserve 30 percent of near shore marine resources and 20 percent of forest resources by 2020.

The Challenge countries – Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands, and the U.S. territories of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands – represent nearly 5 percent of the marine area of the Pacific Ocean and 7 percent of its coastlines. Yet the president's challenge could have an even larger impact on conservation around the globe. Building a global conservation agenda for islands is a major focus for The Nature Conservancy during the international talks that will take place in March 2006 at the Eighth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 8).

Islands and their surrounding waters cover one-sixth of the world's surface and provide habitat for more than half of the Earth's diversity of marine plants and animals. They are home to an astonishingly high ratio of endemic species – plants and animals found no place else in the world – and contain more endangered, rare and threatened species than anywhere else. Islands and their coastal areas are also a critical source of food, jobs and income for millions of people � more than 600 million people live on more than 100,000 islands around the globe.

The Nature Conservancy will be working closely with the government of Micronesia and partners to support the Challenge's launch and implementation.

"Our ability to achieve the 2015 Goal in the Oceania biogeographic realm just multiplied exponentially," said Bill Raynor, director of The Nature Conservancy's Micronesia program. "The opportunity for conservation in this region is incredible. A combination of visionary leadership and capable local partners makes Micronesia a very special place to work."

Gerald Miles, senior policy advisor for the Conservancy in the Asia-Pacific Region, said that the leadership shown by President Remengesau is the essence of a Global Islands Partnership that The Nature Conservancy has been working to create since 2003. The Global Island Partnership will be an important mechanism for implementing elements of the global conservation agenda for islands, such as establishing resilient marine protected networks and addressing the threat of invasive species.

At a United Nations' conference on the future of small island states last January, The Nature Conservancy – along with government and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners – helped secure high-level political commitments to conservation in island countries.

For More Information:

• Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Palau
  Palau is one of the seven underwater wonders of the world, with dugongs, saltwater crocodiles, 550 coral species, 300 species of sponges and 1,300 varieties of reef fish.
• Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Micronesia
  Scattered across a million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, the Federated States of Micronesia is comprised of 607 tropical islands.
• Nature Field Guide: Republic of Palau
  Palau is one of the seven underwater wonders of the world, with dugongs, saltwater crocodiles, 550 coral species, 300 species of sponges and 1,300 varieties of reef fish.
• How We Work: Global Marine Initiative
  The Global Marine Initiative links innovative land and sea conservation strategies to improve survival of our coasts and oceans now and for future generations.
• Success Story: Global Island Conservation
  Islands and their surrounding waters cover one-sixth of the world's surface and provide habitat for more than half of the Earth's diversity of marine plants and animals. The Nature Conservancy is committed to conserving these precious places for now and for future generations.
• How You Can Help: Rescue the Reef^®
  Coral reefs are not just precious underwater jewels to admire for their beauty – they're also a refuge for a quarter of the marine species and rich storehouses of biodiversity.
• Archive of our Saves of the Week and Success Stories
  Read more about The Nature Conservancy's work to save the last great places on Earth.