Early Warning System for New Invasive Species Launched using iNaturalist

 

A new project calling upon everyone to participate in ‘early warning systems’ for invasive species in the Pacific islands was launched on August 27 2021.

iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe.  It is a free tool and can be used by anyone, anywhere.

Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Tonga and Tuvalu are four Pacific islands now using iNaturalist which is available as part of the GEF 6 Regional Invasives Project (GEF6 RIP).  To help track priority invasive species that threaten Pacific Island biodiversity, GEF 6 RIP developed the initiative which records findings of biodiversity and invasive species observations by local residents and visitors.

“We are excited to launch the iNaturalist projects in Niue, RMI, Tonga, and Tuvalu and get communities involved in the monitoring and management of invasive species and biodiversity more broadly,” said Bradley Myer, Project Manager GEF 6 RIP at SPREP.