Publication
Conservation Impact Report 2022
The Conservation Impact Report seeks to demonstrate the impact of Fauna & Flora’s conservation work and the changes that...
The Sombrero ground lizard is a critically endangered reptile, endemic to a tiny Caribbean island near Anguilla. In 2018, it was estimated that fewer than 100 individuals of the species were left in the wild – it was on the very brink of extinction.
In 2021, Fauna & Flora and our partners Anguilla National Trust and Re:wild stepped in to help the Sombrero ground lizard and its island habitat to recover. Fast forward three years and results are already promising. A recent survey has revealed the population of the Sombrero ground lizard is now estimated at more than 1,600 – a rapid recovery and an encouraging sign of hope for the future of the rare reptile.
In 2018, following yet another severe hurricane, we feared it might be the end for the Sombrero ground lizard. Fewer than 100 were left and the island was in ruins. The past three years have seen painstaking restoration activity, with hands-on efforts by both our international partners and local conservation heroes to remove the invasive pests and restore natural plant cover – not an easy feat on such a remote and rocky island like Sombrero.
Farah Mukhida
Executive Director at Anguilla National Trust
In 2018, following yet another severe hurricane, we feared it might be the end for the Sombrero ground lizard. Fewer than 100 were left and the island was in ruins. The past three years have seen painstaking restoration activity, with hands-on efforts by both our international partners and local conservation heroes to remove the invasive pests and restore natural plant cover – not an easy feat on such a remote and rocky island like Sombrero.
Farah Mukhida
Executive Director at Anguilla National Trust
Sombrero island in June 2024 compared to February 2019 showing a dramatic increase in vegetation.
An island of unique species
While small, Sombrero Island is a globally important area for biodiversity and forms the heart of the Sombrero Island Marine Reserve. Several other extremely rare species are unique to the island, including the Sombrero Island bee, a pygmy gecko and the Sombrero Island wind scorpion, a harmless but fearsome-looking invertebrate. Sombrero also supports large seabird colonies and is designated as an Important Bird Area and a Ramsar Site.
Due to historical mining for phosphates, invasive mice and severe hurricanes, Sombrero Island was on the verge of ecological collapse. Completely deforested, it was hard to imagine this island used to have an endemic giant tortoise. Since 2021, conservation efforts have focused on removing the invasive rodents and planting native species and, today, Sombrero Island has been declared pest-free, and is looking much greener and healthier than before efforts began. Reintroduced native plants such as sea bean, seagrape and prickly pear are already showing healthy new growth.
The restoration of Sombrero island is not just important for wildlife in the short term, but is key for building resilience to the impacts of climate change, ensuring nature can thrive in the long run too.
Sombrero Island wind scorpion. © Toby Ross / Fauna & Flora
Sombrero Island wind scorpion.
Protecting the island from future challenges
As climate change and its impacts become more acute, new threats to nature and people are emerging. Securing Sombrero and other Caribbean islands from the impacts of climate change – from wildfires to severe hurricanes – is becoming a growing challenge for our local team and partners.
Jenny Daltry, Caribbean Alliance Director, Fauna & Flora and Re:wild, who co-led the ground lizard surveys, explains: “This is a remarkable turnaround for this cheeky and charismatic lizard but while we celebrate this recovery, we recognise that there is much more to be done to secure their future and that of other Caribbean wildlife. The combined impacts of biodiversity loss and climate breakdown are being felt with greater intensity every year in the Caribbean and around the world. Indeed, we are still busy helping our partners in Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines to recover from the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Beryl earlier this year.”
Acknowledgements
The Sombrero Island restoration project was made possible through financial support from King Charles III Charitable Fund, Betty Liebert Trust, Darwin Plus, the John Ellerman Foundation, US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Neotropical Migratory Birds Conservation Act, and Fauna & Flora’s Species Fund. Wildlife Management International Limited was contracted by Fauna & Flora to provide technical assistance to the project.
Sombrero ground lizard. © Toby Ross / Fauna & Flora
Sombrero ground lizard.
Donate now to prevent wildfires
Severe hurricanes are by no means the only destructive threat to the wildlife of the wider Caribbean and Central America posed by our rapidly warming climate. Every year, wildfires sweep through Belize. Each year they get worse, with rising global temperatures causing hotter, drier summers. In spring, the wildfires will come back.
This will be nothing short of a catastrophe for the countless species living there – jaguars, spider and howler monkeys, ocelots, tapirs, harpy eagles and more.
But you can help us to change that.
Donate todayWildfires blazing in Belize, 2024. © Ya'axché Conservation Trust
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