Developped by Conservation International (CI), the hotspot concept defines as a region that contains at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat. Using these criteria, 34 hotspots have been identified, comprising a large number of species, many of them being endemic and highly threatened. The 34 hotspots covered 15,7 % of the terrestrial areas in the past. 86 % of thes areas have been distroyed, and consequently the intact hotspots now cover only 2,3 % of the terrestrial habitats on Earth. On such a small surface, they harbor around 65 % of all the animal and vegetal species of our planet. Half of the plants and 42 % of the terrestrial vertebrates of the world are endemic to these areas.
French Polynesia is part of the "Polynesia-Micronesia" hotspot, which stretches from the Mariana and Palau archipelagos in the northwest to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the east, and from the Hawaiian Islands in the north to the Cook Islands, Tonga, and Niue in the south. This hotspot includes all the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia, plus Fiji, scattered across 40 million km² of the Pacific Ocean. At least 4,500 islands, representing 11 countries, 8 territories, and one U.S. state (Hawaii). The hotspot, which is one of the smallest hotspots in terms of land area, covering only 46,488 km² (the size of Switzerland).
French Polynesia is the Pacific Island Country where threatened endemic birds are more numerous inside the "Polynesia-Micronesia" hotspot (except Hawaii).
