Wednesday 8th May – Evening Talk – Island restoration; Removing invasive species to benefit birds and other wildlife by Michael Brooke

Much conservation activity serves to stop or, more dismally, merely slow the rate of biodiversity loss. But I will argue in this talk that island restoration offers the possibility of a net biodiversity gain, potentially in perpetuity. This is especially true when invasive species threatening native wildlife can be eradicated. The talk will particularly focus on projects around the world that have removed rats, goats and cats from oceanic islands over the past 30 years. During this time expertise has grown and projects on ever-larger islands have become achievable, with clear gains for seabirds and other threatened native species.