![]() The overarching goal on this program is for students to learn key field research skills designed to support the environmental sustainability of the islands, participate in local conservation projects, become acquainted with the region’s cultural history and diverse ecology, and learn how French Polynesia is being impacted by climate change. Their rapidly changing environment highlights the importance of research and monitoring efforts so that long-term ecological trends can be better understood. Pressured by development, tourism and a changing climate, the people of French Polynesia are looking to make informed decisions concerning their future. In 2012, the government created the largest shark sanctuary in the world, providing a safe haven for more than 20 species of sharks, and a movement is currently growing to offer better protection to its 1024 fish and 176 coral species. Over the last fifteen years, French Polynesia has started establishing initiatives to combat this degradation. Similarly, industrial fishing and marine tourism damage the surrounding sea. Symptoms of global warming such as sea-level rise and precipitation changes on the islands impact the coral reef ecosystem. These last few decades, however, have seen an increase of concerns for the marine ecosystem – and now much-needed action. Most of these changes took place on land, and marine life remained relatively spared even as tourism boomed through the 20th century. Their land use and agricultural practices caused habitat loss, overexploitation and forced the islanders to abandon sustainable practices used for hundreds of years to manage their natural resources. The arrival of European settlers had a second significant and detrimental impact on the Polynesian Islands. But an even more dangerous canoe passenger, the rat, precipitated the extinction of many defenseless birds, plants, and insects that had evolved without mammal predators. Their introductions alone were enough to severely upset the ecological balance of the islands. These advanced navigators brought crops (known as ‘canoe plants’) necessary to settle the new islands, as well as pigs, chickens, and dogs. ![]() The first impact was the arrival of the Polynesian people more than a thousand years ago. Today, French Polynesia hosts an array of vibrant tropical wildlife, and endemic species alone include 50 birds, 500 vascular plants, 240 marine mollusks, 80 marine fish, and even 15 freshwater fish species.īeing isolated and having evolved around very small land surfaces, the biodiversity of Tahiti and Moorea is particularly vulnerable and has already experienced two major crises. Several evolved into new species found nowhere else. Within a few million years, these islands have become home to many unique organisms able to disperse across the vast Pacific. Society Islands, the best-known group, form a geologically young volcanic archipelago that includes Tahiti and Moorea, famous for their postcard picture beaches. French Polynesia includes five island groups over a surface of 5 million square kilometers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |