Call for action on biodiversity in Oceania
The high rate of extinction in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands is set to get worse unless urgent action is taken to protect biodiversity in the area, warn scientists.
"We're arguing for much more focus on biodiversity conservation right across what governments are doing," says Kingsford.
Oceania covers Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand and Polynesia and contains six of the world's 39 biodiversity hotspots, say the researchers, who reviewed evidence from 24,000 publications.
They say invasive plants and animals have devastated terrestrial species in the Pacific Island and caused 75% of all terrestrial vertebrate extinctions, including the extinction of 1,200 bird species.
More than 2500 invasive plants have colonised New Zealand and Australia, which is equivalent to 11% of native plant species, say Kingsford and colleagues.
And many of these invaders have been introduced by government, agriculturalists, horticulturalists and hunters.
Kingsford and colleagues also point the finger at the threat to biodiversity from habitat loss and degradation.
Australian agriculture had modified or destroyed about 50% of woodland forests and 70% of remaining forests have suffered ecologically from logging, they say.
In all, Kingsford and colleagues identify six major threats to Oceania and say burgeoning populations are set to put further pressure on the area.
Australia is set to increase its population by 35%, New Zealand by 25%, Papua New Guinea by 76% and New Caledonia by 49% by 2050, they say.
"We've already probably got the worst extinction rate of anywhere in the world," says Kingsford. "We're just going to exacerbate that extinction record."
Other threats include the threat of disease, over-exploitation of wildlife and pollution.
Oceans of risk
Kingsford says Oceania is particularly vulnerable to invasive species, because there are so many islands, which did not evolve many predators.
"That's why so many bird species got knocked off when rats, mongooses and possums invaded," he says.
Marine ecosystems in Oceania's vast seas also need protection from pollution, says Kingsford.
Kingsford and colleagues are particularly concerned about destructive fishery practices, including bottom trawling, in which large areas of ocean floor are "clear felled", and the use of explosives to blow up coral reefs.
Rising seas linked to climate change not only inundate low-lying islands and coastlines, but interacts with other threats in very complex ways, that scientists are still struggling to understand, says Kingsford.
He also says more research is needed in the Pacific as 88.6% of research on key biodiversity threats centre on Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.
"Many Pacific Island states have a relatively poor information base for conservation," says Kingsford.
Kingsford and colleagues make a series of policy recommendations for governments to stem the loss of biodiversity in Oceania.
"Increasing the protected terrestrial, freshwater and marine areas is really important," say Kingsford.
He and colleagues recommend protection of at least 10% of terrestrial areas and up to 50% of marine areas, although they say this may not even be enough.
Kingsford says many Pacific Islands have less than 5% of terrestrial areas protected and marine areas throughout Oceania are poorly protected.
"The biggest problem seems to be that the policy challenges are just not being taken up by government," says Kingsford. "Conservation policies are just seen as a problem for the economy."
Support for call to arms
The researchers say globally, nearly 38% of the world's 45,000 assessed species are threatened and scientists have yet to evaluate 95% of fish, 94% of reptiles and 93% of amphibians.
And they add the average extinction rate is now some 1000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate that prevailed over the past 60 million years.
Professor Tony Peacock, from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre in Canberra says the paper by Kingsford and colleagues is important.
"It is a genuine attempt by prominent scientists to point to policies most likely to deliver better conservation outcomes," says Peacock.
"It's also a timely reminder that we desperately need better conservation outcomes as the world faces the sixth great extinction event, the first to be caused by man."
Zoologist, Professor Chris West, of the University of Adelaide says the paper is a valuable "wake-up call" that underlines the urgent need for action.
"It combines analysis of causes of extinction, rational listing of what needs to be done and a clear call to arms to save what we can," he says.