New Caledonia

Where nature thrives through traditional knowledge and innovation

Through research and collaboration with local communities, government organizations and private-sector partners, Conservation International-New Caledonia works to protect nature for the benefit of New Caledonia's people.

We promote conservation areas such as the Natural Park of the Coral Sea, a 1.3 million-square-kilometer expanse of marine ecosystems that are essential to the people, biodiversity and climate resilience of the southwest Pacific islands. We helped establish the park in 2014 and continue to work with the Indigenous Kanak people, local organizations, the government and other partners in the region to shape the park's management plan, fund key scientific research and integrate New Caledonia's contributions within regional conservation efforts.

Across New Caledonia, we support forest and mangrove restoration, combining traditional knowledge with the latest science to build green firebreaks that protect ecosystems and biodiversity from wildfire damage.

Highlight project

Fighting fires with traditional knowledge

New Caledonia boasts the highest density of endemic plants anywhere in the world, with more than 2,500 native plant species. But dangerous bushfires, intensified by a warming climate, pose a massive threat to these species and local communities, burning up to 2 percent of New Caledonia's forests every year.

Conservation International-New Caledonia is working with local communities to implement a natural fire-fighting solution. The centerpiece of this plan is the native Bourao tree — a species long valued by the Indigenous Kanak people — which features large, thick leaves and a high-humidity soil bed that, together, can stop a runaway fire in its tracks. We are working with the Kanak community to plant Bourao trees as green firebreaks in areas particularly vulnerable to fires. This method enables large swaths of the forest to regenerate naturally with limited human intervention. What's more, the new Bourao trees help prevent soil erosion and provide an ample supply of fibers for rope-making.

Where we work in New Caledonia

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