The Republic of Mauritius as well as a couple of other island in the Mascarene region has a unique native biodiversity. This is mainly due to the fact that the native biodiversity on these islands have had ample time to go through various evolutionary processes before the arrival of humans. Native species had adapted and evolve in relation to their unique environments and ecosystems; consequently there were a great number of endemic biodiversity on different islands.

The term “biodiversity”, short for biological diversity came into use in the 1980’s by scientists to refer to the richness of biological variation on earth or within a particular region. Since its use, the term “biodiversity” has had many definition and ecologists Reed Noss and Allen Coorperrider define “biodiversity” as:

“ the variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, the various ecosystem in which they occur, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that keep them functioning yet ever changing and adapting”.

-         R.Noss & A. Coorperrider

Saving Nature’s Legacy

Hence one can say that biodiversity exists on several levels. Biodiversity in Mauritius has been subjected to different evolutionary processes at different regional level, although the island is relative small (1,860km²). Unfortunately extinction of numerous indigenous and endemic species started with the arrival of man on the island and with the first human colonisation the number of species loss only increased. Conservation and rehabilitation of the forests in Mauritius is an ongoing process as there is still a great extent of native forest under threat by Alien Invasive Species and exotic fauna.