Twelve years of World Heritage classification
Twelve years ago today, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared part of the reefs and lagoons of New Caledonia a World Heritage Site.
The total area taken into account by this prestigious classification is more than 1.5 million hectares, distributed in six different sites in the three provinces: The Entrecasteaux Reefs, the Great Northern Lagoon, the Northeast Coastal Region, the Ouvéa and Beautemps-Beaupré atolls, the Western Coastal Region and the Great Southern Lagoon. They are recognized for their universal value, because of the diversity of corals and the richness of the fauna and flora.
The advantages of the Unesco label are numerous. Amongst all recognition and visibility, which generates economic spinoffs at the tourism level.
Photo Credit @BASTIEN PREUSS
The label comes along with specific conditions, notably that of protecting its heritage by involving local communities and customary authorities. As such, a control system verifies in situ the state of conservation of the sites.
Laurent Wantiez, in charge of reef monitoring for the Unesco in New Caledonia explains: “A team of four scientists monitors the health of the affected reefs. They sample the fish and make a list of the species present, the number of fish, their size, etc. They also survey large invertebrates, such as shellfish, sea cucumbers, crustaceans. And finally they sample the habitat, measuring the percentage of living coral, the different forms, algae, sponges, etc.”
The scientists carry out sampling work on 235 well-defined stations, monitored by the Conservatory of Natural Species and commissioned by Unesco to verify the condition of the inscribed property. There have been positive readings since the 2008 listing.
Laurent Wantiez states that “Simply because there was no cyclone, there were no major phenomena that disrupted the ecosystems, and the human impact remained relatively measured for our reefs. So everything developed: more coral, more fish, more invertebrates, and in 2014, we were able to confirm to Unesco that the integrity of the property had been maintained.”
The third follow-up phase started last year and shows slight degradations on the East Coast corals however the situation is not alarming. According to the scientific committee, New Caledonia must remain very vigilant.