newspapers show that a lack of upkeep, a lack of culling, and the proliferation of rabbits on the island has led to the total devastation of the wildlife; there remains today almost none of the animals my father brought over all those years ago; the rabbits themselves have laid the island waste, stripping it of almost all ground vegetation. It looks almost like a desert. A reporter from the broadcasting corporation told me recently that they found the carcass of the last Bontebok. In the early 21st century, the rabbit population had reached an estimated 25,000, which had become an invasive species, endangering others. Humans are hunting and culling the rabbits to reduce their number. Climate change In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included Robben Island in the list of African cultural sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4°C., and is no longer considered very likely. The other, more plausible scenarios result in lower warming levels and consequently lower sea level rise: yet, sea levels would continue to increase for about 10,000 years under all of them. Even if the warming is limited to 1.5°C, global sea level rise is still expected to exceed after 2000 years (and higher warming levels will see larger increases by then), consequently exceeding 2100 levels of sea level rise under RCP 8.5 (~ with a range of ) well before the year 4000. Gallery See also 1620 Robben Island earthquake List of World Heritage Sites in South Africa List of heritage sites near Cape Town References Further reading External links Robben Island Museum Robben Island – UNESCO World Heritage Centre Robben Island Museum at Google Cultural Institute Nature reserves South African heritage sites World Heritage Sites in South Africa Suburbs of Cape Town Nelson Mandela Prison islands Atlantic islands of South Africa Tourist attractions in Cape Town Penguin colonies