Redonda, a volcanic island in the Caribbean Sea, once looked like the moon’s surface due to its dusty, barren terrain. The island had been mined for guano and abandoned around the start of the first world war, creating a legacy of rats and goats that destroyed vegetation. These animals caused rocks and soil to slide into the sea, damaging the reefs and seagrass and making it dangerous for anyone to venture on to the island.
In 2016, conservationists removed the rats and goats to restore Redonda. They first used a rodenticide to eliminate the rats while not harming more biodiversity. Then, they transported the goats by helicopter off the island, most of whom had been starving due to the lack of food on Redonda. Native trees and grasses sprouted back. Seabirds and the population of the critically endangered and endemic Redonda ground dragon have also increased thirteen-fold since 2017.
After the successful restoration of Redonda, the government of Antigua and Barbuda established the Redonda Ecosystem Reserve. This reserve covers nearly 30,000 hectares of land and sea, an area a quarter the size of Rome, which encompasses the terrain of the island, the seagrass meadows, and coral reef surrounding it. Removing invasive species, such as rats, rabbits, cats, and pigs, has also been done to restore islands worldwide while predicting the 88% effectiveness of restoring biodiversity on island habitats.
Jenny Daltry, Caribbean alliance director for the NGOs Re:wild and Fauna & Flora International, expects more positive changes on Redonda and its surrounding sea in the coming decades. Redonda’s restoration and establishment as a protected area see Antiguans and Barbudans fall in love with Redonda and being at the forefront of conservation action. Hill, the executive director of the Environmental Awareness Group, called the establishment of the reserve a “good jumping point” for future conservation action in the Caribbean, which is peppered with small islands overrun by invasive species
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