Photo by Brayan Salas on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 11 June 2025, at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, the United Nations recognized Mexico's Comprehensive Island Restoration program as a World Restoration Flagship. The effort, led by Mexico's protected areas commission CONANP and the conservation group GECI, has been working on the country's islands for 26 years.
Key facts
The program covers almost 100 Mexican islands and has removed 60 populations of invasive species, backed by biosecurity rules to keep them out.
85% of seabird colonies that had disappeared from the islands have returned.
About 60,000 hectares are under restoration, with a target of more than 100,000 hectares by 2030.
The islands are home to more than 300 endemic mammal, bird and reptile species, and Mexican islands host a third of the world's seabird species.
Why it matters
Mexico's islands are biodiversity hotspots, home to a third of the world's seabird species and hundreds of animals found nowhere else. Removing invasive species lets whole island ecosystems recover, and the return of most lost seabird colonies shows how quickly nature can respond.
Worth noting
Keeping islands free of invasive species requires constant biosecurity checks, and the 2030 goal means tens of thousands more hectares still need restoring.