National capacity self assessment : Solomon islands : thematic assessment- United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity

Abstract

The biodiversity of the Pacific region is recognised as being globally significant. The Solomon Islands was recently included into the famous "Coral Triangle", the area of ocean considered to have the highest marine biodiversity in the world. This includes the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Solomon Islands Rainforest Ecoregion is recognised as "one of the world's great Centres of Plant Diversity" (Wein: Chatterton, 2005). However, biodiversity in Solomon Islands is under threat from invasive species, loss of major land and marine habitats, over exploitation of natural resources and destructive harvesting techniques, climate change from sea level rise and more frequent destructive climatic events. The root causes, simply put, stem from human activity - increasing population, increasing consumption, changing economic circumstances and the need for cash, the drive for a more technological world, even globalisation.