Saving endangered Palms and Conifers of New Caledonia

Saving endangered Palms and Conifers of New Caledonia

Partner: Noé
Years: 2019-2021

With respectively 2,000 plant species (80% endemic) and 1,140 plant species (88% endemic), the humid forest and the mining scrubland are the two richest and most original terrestrial environments in New Caledonia. Yet, these environments are in rapid decline in the face of fire, habitat fragmentation and invasive alien species. Today, half of the palm trees and conifers, emblematic species of these environments, are threatened with extinction.
To meet this challenge, Noé has developed since 2009 a conservation programme focused on these species: the “Palms and Conifers of New Caledonia” Programme, whose objective is to save threatened palm and conifer species and their associated environments.
The objective of this project is to continue and deepen the actions undertaken in 2018 for the conservation of two threatened endemic conifers (Callitris sulcata and Araucaria luxurians); and to implement the priority conservation actions recommended by the Red List Authority’s expert group on three additional threatened species, two palm trees (Kentiopsis oliviformis and Burretiokentia koghiensis) and one conifer (Araucaria scopulorum).