Biodiversity

The remote nature of islands results in a high rate of endemism (i.e. the percentage of animal or plant species that do not exist anywhere else), up to 9.5 times higher than continental areas. this remarkable biodiversity, whose future is intimately linked to that of human communities, is however fragile. islands host 40% of threatened and particularly endangered species. The loss of biodiversity on islands is linked to various phenomena, primarily to biological invasions, reinforced by the absence of predators or parasites for certain species, the reduced size and range of distribution of certain populations and the low connectivity with neighbouring ecosystems, but also the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, the overexploitation of certain resources (including fisheries) and the polluting of strategic ecosystems such as man-groves, seagrass beds, etc.

Climate change exacerbates these phenomena and undermines the resilience of islands and island communities (i.e. their ability to recover from external disruptions): as they are geographically isolated, small islands are more often exposed to extreme climatic events, which are likely to degrade ecosystems of primary importance to local species. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation directly affect islanders, who often highly depend on natural resources and ecosystem service