The National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation

October 22 - 24, 2014

Several key features of islands, including endemism, connectivity, scale, linkage of terrestrial and marine systems, exposure to climate change, and social/political diversity, underlie the challenges of landscape conservation design for marine archipelagos.  Endemic species are typically of the most conservation interest, but do not serve the LCD process well in the form implemented in other parts of the nation.  Prevention of connectivity may be a priority for land species (in support of endemic species and reduce invasion risk), but maintaining connectivity is important for reef species, pinnipeds, and seabirds.  The scale of conservation within archipelagoes varies by orders of magnitude depending on whether the focal area in marine or terrestrial.  Terrestrial conservation partnerships may focus at scales of square miles while oceanic conservation groups’ focus across vast areas.  Yet these efforts must address the linkage of island and marine systems.  Climate change is a major threat to island societies and biodiversity, combining all the familiar terrestrial impacts with ocean changes such as coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and sea level rise.  Designing adaptation strategies that deal with these interacting and as-yet poorly defined impacts is a major challenge to LCD.  Finally, the social/political diversity of island governance can shape the nature of collaborative planning and design of adaptation actions.  Islands may be remote and uninhabited, have autonomous subsistence economies, or host Western economies and institutions, and many archipelagoes cross several international borders.  While much LCD is technologically sophisticated, effective conservation on small islands may hinge on community-led efforts.