Experts Here To Help Save Our Iguana

Delegates arrived in the cuntry on Sunday, have been visiting project Iguana sites in the Mamanucas

Leading iguana experts from around the world are here in Fiji this week to create a recovery plan. A plan to end the extinction for some of the world’s rarest lizards.

The conference of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) Iguana Specialist Group at Malolo Lailai in the Mamanucas. The Delegates arrived in the country on Sunday and have been visiting project Iguana sites in the Mamanucas at Likuliku Lagoon Resort and were on Monuriki Island yesterday. The conference officially starts today and ends this Friday. It will allow the group to contribute significantly to timely conservation efforts for iguana species found in the Pacific region and developing conservation initiatives for iguanas elsewhere in the world. The group will also review conservation actions to date for the critically endangered iguanas native to the Malolo and Monuriki islands in the Mamanuca Group.

Participants of the meeting include experts from conservation organisations such as San Diego Zoo Global who have been working on head starting and captive breeding initiatives for several Fijian iguana species, supporting assurance colonies of Fiji Crested Iguanas and working with local resorts to establish sanctuaries.

Their ongoing initiatives include the preservation of the iguanas and the tropical dry forest vegetation on Likuliku Lagoon Resort and Malolo Island Resort leases in partnership with Ahura Resorts, US Geological Survey, Taronga Zoo, and the Mamanuca Environment Society. The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) is a science-based network of more than 10,000 volunteer experts from almost every country of the world, all working together towards achieving the vision of, “A just world that values and conserves nature through positive action to reduce the loss of diversity of life on earth”. Edited by Paula Tuvuki