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The Aleipata islands are considered to be of great regional conservation significance because they are uninhabited (with the exception of Namua), relatively pristine as forest ecosystems, hosting many species threatened throughout the greater Samoa, and still not invaded by most invasive alien species (IAS) present within Upolu main island. Due to this reason they were included in the list of the 7 key biodiversity areas of Samoa (Conservation International et al. 2010).

Samoa is part of the Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot, one of 34 regions of the world where extraordinary levels of biodiversity and endemism are coupled with extremely high levels of threat (Mittermeier et al. 2004). The four Aleipata islands (Photo 1), holding a high percentage of representative and threatened species of Samoa, certainly represent a key site in the Polynesia-Micronesia biodiversity hotspot. In a 1986 review of 226 islands in the South Pacific region, these islands together rated 30th in importance for biological diversity (Vanderwoude et al. 2006). They were also more recently included in the list of the 7 Key Biodiversity Areas of Samoa (Conservation International et al. 2010).

PACC reports

Reports from the PACC project

The Cook Islands comprises 15 islands with a total land area of 237 sq km and a maximum height above sea-level of 652 m. The islands are scattered over an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.8 million sq km; one of the largest EEZ’s in the South Pacific.

This proposal has been prepared by the Ocean and Islands Programme (OIP) within the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in collaboration with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). It has been prepared in response to an invitation1 from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to assist the Cook Islands in deriving coastal related information to underpin and inform climate change adaptation decisions for coastal areas of Mangaia Island.