Small Islands

=== Islands and Biodiversity ===
Islands represent merely 3% of the global land area yet are home to disproportionate levels of the world's biodiversity with many unique species existing only on a single or related group of islands. However, island species are also among some of the most threatened. Their high levels of endemism and generally small population sizes make them particularly vulnerable to human and natural disturbance events and as such they have exponentially greater extinction rates compared to the mainland. Continued loss of this biodiversity is of global importance. Many species have critical ecosystem roles and island societies depend largely on local biodiversity - whether terrestrial, freshwater or marine - for their livelihoods as well as their social and cultural significance. UNEP, 10 May 2010 
=== Global News ===
July 2009
*Alliance of Small Island States reaffirms its call for short- and medium-term greenhouse gas emissions targets that would limit temperature increases to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, July 10 United Nations, July 10, 2009 topic
*Small Islands Voice - inter-regional initiative focusing on small islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. 
*Small Islands Voice Global Forum
*EcoReality -- a nascent ecovillage, forming in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada
*Global Island Database
References
Category:Gaia