Content area
Full text
Abstract
Islands have often been cited as models of human impact upon the environment. With high rates of endemism and other unique characteristics, island ecosystems are subject to dramatic perturbation. The arrival of humans in Near Oceania during the Pleistocene led swiftly to a series of fauna extinctions. In the New Guinea Highlands clearing and tending of wild plants gave rise to tree and root crop agriculture, intensive cultivation technology, and anthropogenic grasslands. By 3600 BP (Before Present), Lapita settlers had reached Remote Oceania, leading to deforestation and declines in birds and other species. European contact introduced new biota and new technology, with significant consequences for island environments and societies. Questions have been raised concerning the impact of climate change on island ecosystems. Population growth plays a significant role in environmental degradation, though not necessarily as a proximate cause. The Tikopian arboriculture system provides one of several Oceanic models of sustainability.
Keywords: human impact, islands, island ecosystems, Oceania, sustainability
Copyright © 2006 Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Introduction
When the Dutch explorer Roggeveen happened upon Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1722, he remarked upon its wasted appearance, covered with withered grass and other scorched or burnt vegetation (Sharp, 1970: 93). Subsequent work by archaeologists has uncovered a tragic history of isolation, demographic growth and deforestation ending in clan warfare and the destruction of the pre-European society (Kirch, 2000). Bahn & Flenley (1992) present Easter Island as a model for the earth as a whole: mounting population numbers, pressure on natural resources, followed by a "crash".
Landscape change over time has become an important topic of current research (Fisher & Feinman, 2005). There is growing awareness that human activity has generated a wide variety of environmental changes and that assessment is impossible without attention to the long-term perspective. Some of the most critical problems in landscape change today and in the past arose in situations of frontier expansion (Cronon, 1983; Worster, 1992). Islands have a particular tendency toward species endangerment and habitat degradation, and the environmental consequences of human colonization on islands are especially worthy of our attention.
The following questions will be addressed here: (1) In what respect are island ecosystems unique? (2) Why do island ecosystems tend to...