Planned pest eradications on three large New Zealand islands get listed by the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge

A feral cat feeds on the body of a White-capped Albatross chick close to fledging on Auckland Island, photograph by Stephen Bradley

The international conservation initiative, Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC), led by Island Conservation, Re:wild, and UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has added three of New Zealand’s most ecologically rich islands into its ambitious effort to restore and rewild 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems by 2030.  The Department of Conservation and Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust have joined the IOCC to boost conservation efforts on sub-Antarctic Auckland Island, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands.  The addition of these three projects brings the total number of committed island-ocean ecosystems to 20 (click here).

Efforts are now being made to raise the necessary funds for the three restoration efforts.  Read more about the New Zealand island eradication plans here.

Scalped!  A Grey-headed Albatross chick after nocturnal attacks by mice on Marion Island, photograph by Ben Dilley

Previously BirdLife South Africa joined the IOCC by listing sub-Antarctic Marion Island, where the Mouse-Free Marion Project is working towards eradicating its albatross- and petrel-killing House Mice. Read more about Marion Island’s listing with the IOCC here and here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 27 February 2025