Vanikoro (29787)
Solomon Islands, Australasia
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1e, B1, B2
Year of last assessment: 2018
National site name: Vanikoro
Central coordinates: Latitude: -11.6540, Longitude: 166.8840
System: terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 800
Area of KBA (km2): 178.07281
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Vanikolo is a volcanic island in the Santa Cruz archipelago of the Tomuto province. The whole island covers 190 km2. Rainfall averages 5000mm per annum.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs. Alliance for Zero Extinction (2018): site confirmed as an AZE site during the AZE project (2015-2018). Taxonomy, nomenclature and Red List category follow the IUCN 2016 Red List.
Additional biodiversity: The site of two single island endemics, the Vanikoro Monarch and Vanikoro White-eye, neither of which are considered globally threatened currently.
Delineation rationale: 2015-06-10 (BL Secretariat): site area changed from 19160 ha to 17807 ha, following 2012 CEPF Ecosystem Profile.
Habitats
Summary of habitats in KBA: Vanikolo is a rugged island with very limited coastal plains leading onto steep hills up to a maximum of 923m asl all covered with tropical forest. Areas of forest supporting te conifer Agathis macrophylla (Pacific Kauri) were logged until the 1960s, but there has subseqently been little commercial activity on the islands. The human population is small (c900 in 1999) consisting largely of subsistence farmers, but there is also some trade in seafood, such as beche de mer and trochus shells.