28 November 2024, Papeete, Tahiti - Delegates attending the final Steering Committee meeting for the Oceanian Regional Project of Territories for the Sustainable Management of Ecosystems (PROTEGE), celebrated successes, acknowledged challenges and discussed a path forward to continue enhancing management, conservation and sustainable resource use of biological diversity and water resources support in the French and British Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).
Representatives of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Pitcairn and Wallis and Futuna, together with delegates of the European Union, attended the closing meeting of PROTEGE, in early November held in Tahiti, with the meeting wrapping up five years of invasive species management initiatives in the French and British OCTs.
Organised by the South Pacific Community (SPC) and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the meeting gave voice to local implementing partners to highlight the achievements of the project.
Managed by SPREP, through its invasive species programme since 2019, the invasive species component of the EU- funded project provided 4.4 million euros to implement actions to enhance the resilience of Pacific territories by preserving the biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.
PROTEGE, a regional cooperation project, supported the public policies of the four Pacific OCTs, which included, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and the Pitcairn Islands to reduce vulnerability of human and natural systems to the impacts of climate change by increasing adaptation capacity and resilience.
During the meeting, an overview of the practical realisations of PROTEGE were showcased through interventions of local partners, as well as video materials. The diversity of achievements was highlighted, from the elaboration of invasive species strategies to the reinforcement of biosecurity, monitoring and invasives management already present, to the restauration of ecosystems.
In Pitcairn, PROTEGE has resulted in the adoption of the first Invasive Species Strategy and Action Plan in September 2024. The desk study and unprecedented field mission of four invasive species experts provided key information on the plants found on the island and potential biosecurity improvements, which informed the elaboration of this strategic document, that will play a key role in the future.
The actions contributing to the reinforcement of biosecurity in Wallis and Futuna and in French Polynesia were also emphasized. Playing a key role to prevent the introduction and dissemination of invasive species, biosecurity of the two territories benefitted respectively from a review of the existing regulation leading to the adoption of a new early detection and rapid response plan in Wallis and Futuna, and from the deployment of the first detector dog team in French Polynesia.
After a year and half of activity, this new control unit already shows an impressive track record of 2,220 intercepted goods representing a biosecurity threat.
Mr Didier Labrousse, from the Environment Territorial Service of Wallis and Futuna, and Tehani Withers, from the SOP Manu in French Polynesia, shared how the project mobilised innovative approaches resulting in the eradication of rats from 13 uninhabited islets in Wallis, and three in the Marquesas archipelago.
An example of this innovation, in both cases, drones were used to distribute rodenticide in rugged terrains. Thanks to the biosecurity measures elaborated in collaboration with local populations, keeping these 16 islets free from rats should allow the protection of native species, crustaceans, turtles and plants also contributing to the resilience of terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the face of climate change.
The PROTEGE facilitator in New Caledonia at the Agence Néo-Calédonienne de la Biodiversité, Ms Carole Wema said, “the PROTEGE project has allowed to open a new era when it comes to managing deer and feral pigs. For the first time, we have initiated and deployed management actions in three humid forest areas in mountainous areas.”
“For the first time too, we deployed innovative diagnostic tools, as well as professional regulation which are the only ways to efficiently work in such remote areas”.
Mr Christophe Brocherieux, PROTEGE lead in French Polynesia at the Direction de l’Environnement, shared during the meeting “this day is the opportunity for me to share my entire satisfaction about the implementation of the PROTEGE programme.”
“The actions answered to the three main objective of our biodiversity office, that are space management, species protection and fight against invasive species, designed to reach our zero-extinction objective. The flexibility of the programme allowed us to adjust some actions and to adapt to constraints as hard as the COVID.”
While many challenges remain for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services from invasive species, PROTEGE strengthened local capacities that can now be mobilized to scale up Pacific efforts.
Mr Hugo Oudart, from the Direction of Biosecurity of French Polynesia highlighted, that for the detector dog teams “this first year is the first stone of a project that will keep on improving and evolving to maximize the efficiency of biosecurity controls that are necessary to protect the agriculture, biodiversity and human health of our territory”.
At the conclusion of the meeting, SPREP Deputy Director General, Ms Easter Chu Shing, highlighted that “SPREP looks forward in working closely with the territories to address climate and environmental challenges through managing invasive species and building resilience in the face of climate change”.
The SPREP Deputy Director General reaffirmed that continued and coordinated efforts were needed to further strengthen resilience at national, regional and international levels and that SPREP stood ready to work with partners through its various programmes and projects.
The integration of French territories into the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS), expanded by PROTEGE, will facilitate further collaboration. With the PRISMSS “Battler Resource Base”, SPREP’s digital library on invasive species and the PRISMSS Navigator now fully accessible in French, SPREP aim to make support more accessible.
PROTEGE
The Oceanian Regional Project of Territories for the Sustainable Management of Ecosystems (PROTEGE) is an initiative that aims to promote sustainable and climate-resilient economic development in the European Overseas Countries and Territories of the Pacific (OCT), based on biodiversity and renewable natural resources and divided into four components, which are Agriculture and forestry, coastal fisheries and aquaculture, water and invasive species.
PROTEGE is a regional cooperation project that supports the public policies of the four Pacific OCTs: New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and the Pitcairn Islands aiming to reduce the vulnerability of human and natural systems to the impacts of climate change by increasing adaptation capacity and resilience. It also aims to improve management, conservation and sustainable resource use of biological diversity and water resources. It is funded by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) for a 4-year period. The PROTEGE project is being implemented jointly by the Pacific Community (SPC) and SPREP.
SPREP, through the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS), is leading implementation of the invasive species component.
For further information please contact Mr Louis Thiercelin, Project Manager on [email protected] or Mr Nitish Narayan, PRISMSS Communications & Liaison Officer on [email protected]