New Research Shows Invasive Species Removal is a Nature-Based Solution for Climate Resilience

Scientists from Island Conservation, Arizona State University’s Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, the University of Maryland’s Department of Geosciences, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, FLINTpro and terraPulse have published research in Environmental Research Letters that highlights the crucial role of invasive species removal in enhancing climate resilience.

The study, titled "Toward the quantification of the climate co-benefits of invasive mammal eradication on islands: A scalable framework for restoration monitoring," provides compelling evidence that eradicating invasive species not only prevents biodiversity loss but also aids in protecting and restoring globally unique carbon stocks, making it an effective nature-based solution to combat climate change. 

Invasive mammal eradication is a proven conservation intervention that protects islands, rich in biological and cultural diversity, from experiencing biodiversity loss. However, the focus on biodiversity means that less attention has been paid to the climate resilience benefits of invasive mammal removal—an oversight this study seeks to remedy through quantifiable data. 

To assess the global effectiveness of these interventions, the researchers developed a consistent and scalable framework for long-term monitoring of tree cover, forest extent, forest carbon, and vegetation productivity across 1,078 islands in 17 ecoregions. By analyzing satellite-derived NASA Earth observation data over 36 years, the study revealed significant and sustained positive trends in all indices on islands where eradication efforts were implemented. 

“We demonstrate how a scalable, globally consistent approach could be employed to monitor ecosystem change on islands, meeting a critical need for integrating invasive mammal eradication as a nature-based solution for ecosystem resilience into climate policy discussions,” said Miroslav Honzak from Arizona State University and first author of the paper. 

The findings demonstrate that these islands collectively sustain over 940,000 hectares of forest and 53 million metric tons of forest carbon. This novel framework not only enables the measurement of climate co-benefits but also provides a low-cost and globally applicable methodology for assessing ecosystem recovery dynamics on islands for the future. 

"This is the first time that the collective climate benefits of locally-led island restoration efforts have been documented, showing the powerful potential for these actions to act as a natural climate solution,” said David Will, Director of Impact and Innovation for Island Conservation and lead researcher. “It highlights the significant, and yet overlooked, role that invasive mammal removal plays in protecting and restoring carbon stocks of native woody vegetation that exist nowhere else in the world.” 

The publication of this paper marks a significant milestone in understanding the potential of island restoration following invasive species removal to build climate resilience. 

“We leveraged the power of artificial intelligence and cloud computing to generate the first-ever high spatial and temporal resolution estimates of tree cover for nearly 1,000 islands around the world,” said Dr. Joseph Sexton, Chief Scientist of terraPulse, which generated the remote sensing products for the study. “Most of the existing global satellite-based forest data overlook these islands – we see them now in high resolution, and they are important.” 

“Islands are unique ecosystems that offer genuine opportunities to improve climate resilience, as well as support broader climate goals,” said Geoff Roberts, Head of APAC Business Development at FLINTpro, a nature analytics company. “Through the partnership between researchers, remote sensing experts, and modeling experts, we were able to generate unique insights into changes in forest carbon across a geographically and ecologically diverse set of islands. The project underscores the importance of data-informed analysis in assessing conservation and land management results.”