Dominic Sadler said as the climate starts to change it creates disturbance and the impact of invasive species becomes worse. Photo: 123RF
Eliminating invasive species, like rats and weeds, will make Pacific Islands more resilient to climate change, environmental experts say.
Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) director-general Sefanaia Nawadra said the nature of climate change means pre-existing environmental impacts are exacerbated.
"If the environment is already degraded, the ability of that environment to come back after a cyclone or drought or flooding is impacted by the presence of invasive species," Nawadra said.
SPREP has been showcasing its work on invasive species management at climate meeting, Adaptation Futures Conference in Christchurch.
Dominic Sadler, the manager of the programme, said invasive species thrive off disturbance.
"As climate change starts to change that creates disturbance and so the impact of invasive species becomes worse, so you end up with a negative feedback loop," Sadler said.
"Through the management of [invasive species] we have a much higher chance of having positive adaptation outcomes for communities that rely on their environment for things like storm protection, flood prevention, water availability, food security all these things that are linked to the environment."
David Moverley, also with SPREP, said in the Pacific "absolutely everything" comes from the environment.
Moverley said there were "a million different links" where improvement in one area of the environment has a positive impact on another.
He said eradicating rats and pigs means seabirds thrive, which improves the health of reefs.
"That really does impact the whole way that islands receive nutrients and that is reflected in the near coastal ecosystems."
Sadler said there are also benefits to people's health by reducing or removing invasive species.
"We've had some examples of islands where after a rat eradication the mosquito population also disappears because there are no mammals for them to feed on."
He also said the removal of invasive weeds had improved soil retention and erosion.
"I've got some amazing examples of islands where a year after the rats have been removed, all of a sudden the turtles are back nesting and you just see the life come back into an island.
"All these things have cultural significance, they have traditional practices linked to them."
