Nature’s Heroes are volunteers doing outstanding conservation work locally. Prepare to be inspired when your read about their work.
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The first step is to identify the most vital islands for seabirds - Important Bird Areas (IBAs) – and to assess the threats posed by invasive species. IBAs are sites selected from international criteria defined by BirdLife and represent the world’s most important locations for birds. This list of Pacific IBAs serves to prioritise the eradication action which follows. This action started in 2006 on the small Fijian island of Vatuira, an IBA for several seabird species including 28,000 breeding pairs of Black Noddies Anous minutus. By working in partnership with the Nagilogilo Clan of Vatuira, BirdLife staff successfully eradicated Pacific Rats by adapting techniques developed in New Zealand. Poison baits – safe to all species except rats on Vatuira – were laid down during two visits in July 2006. Remarkably, the rats found most of the baits in the first night alone, and, just 18 months later, the island was officially declared free from rats. “The results were quick to see, with ground-nesting seabirds - such as Bridled Tern Sterna anaethetus and Black-naped Tern Sterna sumatrana - raising chicks on Vatuira for the first time”, Ms Seniloli said. It is now hoped that these species, and others, will establish significant populations on the island. The benefits to local people were immediate. “No longer do they sleep in fear of rats eating their food – or worse still, their toes - at night”. The Nagilogilo Clan are now exploring low impact ecotourism opportunities on Vatuira, and BirdLife staff have trained community members in rat eradication, seabird identification and methods for preventing the re-establishment of rats and other introduced species. Local guides are now educating visitors about the importance of stopping rats from returning and how the islands have benefitted from the eradication work.
Following on from the early success on Vatuira, BirdLife staff have already replicated their eradication work on a total of 16 islands across Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Palau. Working with BirdLife Partners - Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie MANU, Société Calédonienne d’Ornithologie, the Palau Conservation Society and the BirdLife Fiji Programme - this joint conservation action has successfully eradicated rats from 12 islands, creating 255 ha of predator-free island habitat, while protecting breeding colonies for 15 species of seabird and many other native life forms including uncommon and threatened landbirds, reptiles, invertebrates and plants. With the vast majority of seabird colonies across the region under attack from at least one invasive species, BirdLife’s eradication work continues to expand and preparations are underway to restore an additional 16 important seabird islands, through; the removal of rodents, feral goats, cats and rabbits, which, will result in secure habitat for up to 30 seabird species in the same four countries (Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Palau) and are being managed by the respective Birdlife Partners. Additional islands are also being assessed for seabirds, introduced predators and restoration need in the Cook Islands, working with our BirdLife Partner, the Te Ipukarea Society. The eradications and surveys are proposed to take place in 2011. In addition, these BirdLife Partners will continue to monitor seabird and biological responses to the removal of predators. They will work with local communities and government agencies towards the long-term security of restored seabird islands, notably through the establishment of effective island biosecurity and quarantine controls. BirdLife’s invasive species eradication work in the Pacific is a hugely important contribution to seabird and biodiversity conservation in the region; it is an example of how conservation intervention really works. The BirdLife Seabird Island Restoration programme is chiefly supported by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, the Darwin Initiative and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. Numerous other donors, governments and regional invasive species experts and agencies have also provided invaluable assistance in making the island restoration programme possible.