The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Project, or SPREP, is calling on the Samoan government to list the uplands of Savai'i as a protected area and nominate it as a World Heritage Site.
A team of researchers organised by SPREP spent 10 days surveying the biodiversity of the area, which is largely unexplored by scientsts and uninvaded by predators, and found 40 new species of moth and 36 new species of landsnail.
The Terrestrial Ecosystem Management Officer at SPREP, Bruce Jeffries, says as the largest remnant of cloud forest in Polynesia, the area and its ecosystem needs protecting.
"The government of Samoa needs in the first instance to put it on an indicative list - these are sites of significance within national boundaries. And it's not on the country's indicative list yet. And from that it could go through a nomination phase, and the nominations go to a world heritage committee."
The Samoan Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment says the ministry is discussing the report's recommendations and consulting with local villages.
