http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/ecosystem_management/islands/

IUCN's Islands Initiative

Why an Islands Initiative?

In response to interest from the membership, and with generous support
of the Government of Italy, IUCN undertook a situation analysis in 2006
and 2007 of the socio-economic and environmental challenges facing
islands and efforts to address them. The study included a survey of the
views of a diverse set of island stakeholders; identified island values
and environmental issues important to them; and confirmed the usefulness
of a more focused approach to island issues within the overall IUCN
Programme.

* Much to conserve: As significant – and vulnerable – repositories
of the world’s biodiversity, islands are central to global conservation
efforts. Island populations, and particularly the rural and coastal
poor, often directly rely on ecosystem services from island systems (and
the biodiversity that underpins these services) for their livelihoods,
and healthy ecosystems are therefore essential to island sustainable
development;
* Much to learn: Island ecosystems are characterised by their
vulnerability, and that vulnerability carries with it the need for
resilience and adaptation. Islands can help the world to understand the
impacts of natural and human stresses on ecosystems – and how to build
resilience and sustainability, in terms of climate change, energy
futures, human well-being, and economic development;
* Much to share: Islands, though incredibly diverse, have many
characteristics, issues, and constraints in common. And because the
learning they offer can be applied more broadly, they also have much to
share with the rest of the world.