Although generally distinct from continental environ-
ments, and therefore of interest in their own right,
island environments have been generally misunderstood,
misinterpreted, and mismanaged. The main reason is that
they have been interpreted for management purposes
largely by continent-trained observers...islands are not
simply miniature continents and...continental solutions
do not simply need to be scaled down in order to be
successful.
(Nunn 2004, pp. 311 and 319)In this final short chapter, we first illustrate some of
the special problems facing contemporary island
societies, the pressures on the environments and
biotas of oceanic islands, and constraints within
which those interested in promoting conservation
must operate. Conservation in island archipelagos
like the Canaries, the Maldives, the Lesser Antilles,
and the Galápagos present distinctive challenges,
which arise from the characteristics of the island
environments and biota and from the socio-
economic and political situation of the island
societies (e.g. Nunn 2004). Therefore, secondly, we
look at some of the conservation solutions that
have been promoted in the context of the special
circumstances of remote islands. Solutions ‘para-
chuted in’ from the outside without regard to this
context are unlikely to produce the desired
outcomes.
12.1 Contemporary problems on islands
The previous chapter illustrated some of the
common elements of the problems afflicting island
biodiversity: habitat loss/degradation and the role
of introduced species foremost amongst them. We
start this section, by contrast, with a short selection
of case studies drawn from different regions of the
world, which illustrate some of the profoundly dif-
ferent circumstances and issues that may be of con-
cern in different island groups. Although our focus
throughout this final part of the book has been on
biodiversity, we felt it instructive to include at the
start of this chapter a couple of examples of islands
where the loss of endemic species is not the central
concern. As will become clear, however, whether
species extinctions are at issue or not, the loss of
ecosystem goods and services is, in the end, always
of concern to island societies.Maldives: in peril because of climatic change
The Maldives form an extended equatorial archi-
pelago of about 1200 small, low coral atolls, extend-
ing for 800 km in a line across the Indian Ocean.
Being small, low islands they have a low rate of
endemism, with just five endemic plant species (all
in the genus Pandanus) within a native flora of 277
species (Davis etetalal. 1995). They have a total land
area of about 300 km^2 and a population of about
350 000 inhabitants. The foreign exchange economy
is based almost exclusively on the naturalness and
beauty of these islands, which have become a desti-
nation for so-called ‘quality’ tourism.
Together with the Lakshadweep Islands to the
north and the Chagos Islands to the south, the
Maldives form part of a vast submarine mountain
range, on the crest of which coral reefs have grown.
Actually, the term ‘atoll’ is derived from the native323CHAPTER 12