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  • 3/25/2025
This is the story of an island which is trying to save its threatened plant life…

Brut nature followed the @WWFNC through the archipelago’s forests and scrubland. Here’s what they are doing to protect this exceptional flora.

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Transcript
00:00The flower in New Caledonia is really exceptional because of its endemicity.
00:21There are 80% of the species that are endemic to New Caledonia,
00:24which means that in their natural state, they can only be found in New Caledonia.
00:28So if they disappear from New Caledonia, they disappear from the planet
00:31and the biodiversity heritage of humanity.
00:35There must be one over there.
00:40The first one is this one.
00:42It's a small Tristaniopsis polyandra.
00:45This one is beautiful, look.
00:48It's dense, it has a nice leaf pattern.
00:50It makes these little leaves, they're quite funny.
00:53There are still 500 individuals of this species.
00:56I don't think 500 is a lot, but from the moment you start counting the feet of a species,
01:01that's when there's a problem.
01:17When I came back here after the fire, it was a show of desolation.
01:22Here you can see greenery.
01:24Most of it was gone, it was a black landscape.
01:30The fire ate up almost all of the vegetation.
01:34In these machines, 9 plants out of 10 are endemic.
01:38So we're in front of a cemetery of forests,
01:41a forest unique to the world,
01:43which is definitely leaving us in this valley.
01:47This flower is not only threatened by fires,
01:50but it has been for more than a century, for example, by mining.
01:54We have very important nickel deposits,
01:57and you have to go looking for this nickel by destroying the vegetation.
02:01And then you have biological invasions,
02:03that is, the introduction of animal and plant species.
02:06These species take up the space,
02:09disrupt the ecological niche of the Caledonian species.
02:14So if you add mining, fire and biological invasions,
02:18animal and plant,
02:20you have the trio of heads
02:22that participate in the destruction of a biodiversity unique to the world.
02:36Here we are going to join a volunteer family
02:40who has been participating for two months
02:43to save the last feet of Pichonia,
02:46the endangered shrub that had been completely burned.
03:00We filled the buckets at the river
03:03and we helped Mom to immerse the straw in the water
03:06to make it wetter.
03:11Do you think it could be Pichonia?
03:14Yes, according to the photos that Edige sent you,
03:17for me there is no doubt that it is Pichonia.
03:20So it remains to be seen how many plants have survived.
03:23Yes, that's it.
03:26PICHONIA
03:38You see, two weeks ago there was nothing left.
03:42And then we discover that it grew again.
03:45Great.
03:46It was able to grow like that.
03:48Yes, there was really nothing at all.
03:50Superb.
03:51It will be its ashes.
03:53We have five plants, possibly,
03:56that have taken over.
03:58Five plants on the planet for this species.
04:01The emotion is huge.
04:03It's a beautiful day, it's a day of hope,
04:06but also of responsibility.
04:09DUMBEA
04:22So here we are on the site of the Dumbea.
04:24It is a site that has been subjected to significant pressure
04:27even today.
04:28The mine, in the past.
04:30The fires, until quite recently.
04:32And which is also ecologically super important
04:35since it is located on a kind of green corridor
04:37that goes up the Dumbea Valley.
04:42So here we are on a hill.
04:44We did restoration work that we started in 2015.
04:47And we will see if our plantations,
04:49since that time, have succeeded.
04:51So if we have dead plants, if we have living plants.
04:54And to see if it's a success or not.
04:57The plants we planted were barely 10 cm.
05:00And here they are, three and a half years later,
05:02almost four years, they are 80 cm.
05:05And above all, super important, they have fruits.
05:11So the follow-up on the sheets is to indicate the size,
05:14the size of the plant.
05:16Indicate the state of the foliage.
05:18Normally, if they are dead, it has been a while
05:20that they are, and those who have survived,
05:22we hope they hang on and are in good shape.
05:24So size, state of the foliage.
05:26If there are flowers, yes, no.
05:28If there are fruits, yes, no.
05:31Yes, this one is beautiful.
05:33This one is called ...
05:35Magnificent, magnificent.
05:37What's his little name?
05:39Gymnosthoma.
05:41So this one is already ready to go seed.
05:43There are a few at the feet.
05:45So that's a success.
05:47Because the seeds are going to leave,
05:49the birds are going to eat them,
05:51they are going to go down with the rain.
05:53And we're going to make a forest.
05:56In fact, on these very poor soils,
05:58the trees really grow very,
06:00very slowly for a tropical environment.
06:02So with a little luck,
06:04in 50 to 100 years,
06:06we will have a really dense, grassy cover.
06:08And on the other hand, to find a real
06:10original forest environment,
06:12there we go on durations that are
06:14rather 500 years for the time
06:16that the species return, that the soils
06:18are reconstituted. So it's really
06:20scales of time that are excessively slow.
06:22That's why it's really important
06:24to protect the forests we have today,
06:26because the time it takes to rebuild them
06:28far exceeds us.
06:36Preserving this flora,
06:38it's going to go through more
06:40means of fighting
06:42against fires.
06:44It's going to go through the creation
06:46of new protected areas.
06:48It's going to go through the ban
06:50of exploiting the ore
06:52of some massifs, because the biodiversity
06:54is too important.
06:56It's going to go through the development
06:58of large environmental education programs,
07:00not in one, ten or twenty schools,
07:02but in all the Caledonian schools.
07:18Hello everyone!
07:20Thank you to you and your teachers
07:22for being here.
07:24I'm going to show you a project
07:26that we are leading with the WWF.
07:28It's a project to save endemic species.
07:30Do any of you know what endemic means?
07:32It's the species that live in the same place.
07:34Yes, that's exactly it.
07:36The fact that it's an island,
07:38there is very little exchange,
07:40so there are a lot of species
07:42that are developed on the island
07:44and that really only exist on this island.
07:46I wanted to show you species
07:48that are micro-endemic to Païta.
07:50For example, this one
07:52is the Ocrosia inventorum.
07:54As you will see,
07:56they all have names that are not possible.
07:58The Ocrosia inventorum
08:00only remains at the pointe-ma.
08:02I don't know if you can see the pointe-ma
08:04at the seaside.
08:06We will have a hard time naming this one
08:08because even the scientists
08:10have not yet given it a name
08:12because they have not yet been able
08:14to identify what kind of species it is.
08:16It's a small tree, when it's young
08:18It was a small example.
08:20We will see each other again soon
08:22because there will be
08:24seedling projects,
08:26projects to try to find seeds,
08:28to grow these trees
08:30and to plant them in the field behind.
08:32That way, all together,
08:34there are 48 species that are threatened with extinction.
08:36We could already save four.
08:38It's still huge.
08:40That means that with just 10 school establishments,
08:42so high school, high school,
08:44we can save almost all species
08:46of dry forest.
08:48It's our turn to play.
08:50For that, we need you.
08:52Thank you very much.
08:54It touched me.
08:56I would like the plants
08:58to stay alive.
09:02I planted lots of plants
09:04for the new generation.
09:10In fact, these citizens
09:12can also, if they are aware of this wealth,
09:14come and participate in conservation.
09:16It is the observation that everyone can participate
09:18and that if we take one or more species
09:20under our wing,
09:22we can save them from extinction.

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