A group of scientists, conservationists and politicians from Europe and its twenty-eight overseas territories have begun a five-day biodiversity meeting on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Most of Europe’s overseas territories are islands that have unusually high concentration of unique and endangered species. Russell Mittermeier of the International Union for Conservation of Nature urged the European nations to protect the biodiversity of these islands.

Russell Mittermeier: “France is one of the ten countries in the world with the highest number of endangered species, mainly due to what has happened in its overseas territories. And once again, the risk of these numbers increasing in the European overseas territories is likely to increase with the growing threat of climate change.”