Earlier this month Island Conservation was delighted to report a successful project on Irooj, a small islet that forms part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean. The project is one of countless examples of how climate resilience can be bolstered by protecting island-ocean ecosystems from destructive invasive species.

Since then, this story of hope has been covered by the esteemed publication Scientific American – including an interview with Chad Hanson, our Deputy Vice President of Conservation. The article notes the unique vulnerability of island communities in the face of climate change, and how our work on Irooj is a shining example of making a positive impact within the conservation space in order to mitigate the damaging effects of invasive species on these at-risk ecosystems.

As Chad explains in the article:  

Your island communities aren’t the ones that are contributing to climate change,” he said. “But they’re the ones that are experiencing the sea-level rise, they’re experiencing the invasive species that are oftentimes more adaptable to rises in temperatures or changes in soil chemistry, and they can outlast many of the species that are native and endemic.”

There is also mention of the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge, where Island Conservation and our growing list of partners aim to restore and rewild 40 islands by 2030. Collaboration is key to solving these global challenges.

Ocean health is a shared problem,” Hanson said. “Biodiversity and extinctions are a shared problem. Climate change, without a doubt — I’m preaching to the choir here, is a huge shared problem. There’s nobody that will avoid the impacts of that.”

You can read the full article here.