The South Atlantic Invasive Species Project is a three-year project (December 2006 - December 2009) funded under the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

EDF 9. The purpose of the project is to increase the capacity of the UK's South Atlantic Overseas Territories to deal with

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

issues. The territories involved are

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

, the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

and

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

. The project is managed by the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

(RSPB) on behalf of the partner governments. In addition to the partner governments, two NGOs: Falklands Conservation and the Saint Helena National Trust are key stakeholders.

Project progress

The project started with the appointment of two project officers, Andrew Darlow, for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and Brian Summers for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. During the course of the project, Dr Phil Lambdon discovered a living example of a type of sedge on Saint Helena, ''

Bulbostylis neglecta ''Bulbostylis neglecta'', neglected tuft sedge locally, is an endemic member of the Cyperaceae of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. ''Bulbostylis neglecta'' was first collected by William John Burchell in 1806, although the specimen was not ...

'', that had not been seen for over 200 years and was previously feared extinct. Clare Miller who manages the South Atlantic Invasive Species project said:

Saint Helena’s wildlife has been ravaged by species introduced to the island. Goats, gorse, grasses, and cage birds have all been liberated on the island where they have wreaked havoc with the native species. Saint Helena is a noted extinction hotspot, driven largely by non-native species, and the native birds have suffered more here than many other islands. Of eight species of bird confined to the island, seven have become extinct since the island’s discovery in 1502.

References

{{Reflist Invasive species