Juan Fernández Archipelago Invasive Species Control (Chile)

The Juan Fernández Archipelago (Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk and Santa Clara islands), about 700 km off Chile's coast, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve holding one of the world's highest concentrations of endemic plants per unit area, alongside the Critically Endangered Juan Fernández firecrown hummingbird (Sephanoides fernandensis), found nowhere else. Introduced goats, rabbits, rats and coatis have driven extensive habitat loss since colonial times.

CONAF, Chile's national forestry and parks agency, declared Santa Clara islet rabbit-free in 2003 after a 2002-03 mass-hunting and regulated-poison campaign — the first complete island rabbit eradication in Chile. On Robinson Crusoe Island, CONAF partnered with Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge and the UK's Darwin Initiative/Defra (2015-2018) on native flora restoration, plus an invasive-mammal exclusion fence at Piedra Agujereada (3.3 ha, built 2012, redesigned 2020) to protect a firecrown feeding and nesting area; Island Conservation and Universidad de Concepción have supported wider monitoring and removal planning, and Chile's Ministry of Environment approved a national restoration plan (RECOGE) in 2026.

Pink-footed shearwater breeding pairs on Santa Clara rose roughly 40% in the three years following the rabbit eradication (Mongabay, 2020). The flora-restoration project targets long-term recovery of habitat for 108 endangered or rare native plant species (14 with fewer than 10 wild individuals known), with an initial 1 ha under active restoration and a 2033 goal of about 3,000 ha.

This remains, honestly, as much a cautionary case as a success story: rats are not addressed by the current exclusion-fence design, and livestock damage continues outside fenced areas; the Juan Fernández firecrown remains IUCN Critically Endangered, with population estimates ranging inconsistently from under 1,000 to 3,500 individuals across recent sources and no confirmed rebound documented; Chile's 2026-approved RECOGE national restoration plan is not yet fully funded.

Read the full analysis: https://www.islandconservation.org/robinson-crusoe-island-conservation-protection/