Abstract for presentation at Biodiversity Extinction Crisis Conference - A Pacific Response

Very few doubt David Steadman's statement 'On tropical Pacific islands, a human-caused biodiversity crisis began thousands of years ago and has nearly run its course'. Facts and figures to support this are easy to come by and are conspicuously brandished in support of the conservation cause for Pacific programmes.
Elsewhere there are conservation professionals successfully working on the ways and means of conserving threatened biodiversity and island ecosystems which serve as models to stem the tide of extinctions in the island Pacific.
However, the needs and the science of conservation are not the subject of this presentation. It will focus attention on the delivery of conservation in the island Pacific as it is happening or not happening today. This is a delicate but fundamental component, because irrespective of the extraordinary needs and well developed science and methodology, the tide of extinction will not be turned unless conservation can be delivered on the ground to the right people, in the right places, in the right manner.
This presentation looks at the important players, and in particular the remarkable number of international NGOs now operating in the island Pacific, governments and regional organizations, the role of donors and the islanders themselves.
The trends are not at all encouraging - at worst, the conservation prerogative of island governments and their people is being wrested by NGOs who have a transient commitment to any one site, subject or community, whose well-oiled fundraisers high-jack the conservation icons or resources of local communities and national governments, whose delivery methods are inappropriate, sometimes counter-productive and often without permanent efficacy.
Of course, there are examples of the opposite, where NGOs are doing a remarkable and welcome job. But in general there needs to be a radical change to the current modes of operation of conservation delivery, and the onus lies with the donors as much as the NGOs themselves and a more positive and assertive stance by island governments.