Climate change and biodiversity in Melanesia: what do we know? consensus report

Abstract

Melanesia is one of the richest biotic regions on the planet. Although consisting of slightly more than half of one percent of the earth’s land area, Melanesia contains a high percentage of the Earth’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity. Numerous studies have indicated that the island of New Guinea (the country of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia’s Papua province) and its associated archipelagos, and the major Melanesian islands (located in the countries of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia) are major global priorities for conservation (Olsen and Diner stein 20021 ; Wikramanayake et al. 2002; Mittermeier et al. 2003; Mittermeier et al. 2005). Melanesia’s conservation priorities include species and habitat protection as well as the continued provision of ecosystem services to local and global communities that depend on them. How regional climate change resulting from anthropogenic global warming will affect biodiversity in Melanesia is therefore a critical subject for examination with far reaching implications.