New Caledonia

The Dayu Biik association's Board of Directors and technical team realized that the association's culture and traditional knowledge were not being promoted, so they took the initiative of creating a forum for dialogue. The Dayu Biik team, together with the team from the Hienghène cultural center, asked the two major chieftaincies to bring together the traditional chiefs so that the team could present this concerted effort. Following this meeting, we drew up a schedule of consultation meetings in the various tribes. The meetings took place in the presence of the Dayu Biik team, the cultural center team and the Bwarhat grand chief. Thanks to BEST2.0+ funding, the association was able to create various awareness-raising materials on the role of culture in protecting nature.

In New Caledonia, fires, mining and logging have reduced the forest area by 60%, leading to problems of water supply, soil erosion and sedimentation of the lagoon - a veritable larder for the local population. Public authorities are mobilizing to finance revegetation projects in the most degraded areas, and to require mining companies to restore their operations. The populations most affected by degradation are also the most willing and able to take action on their environment, but they have no access to the training that would enable them to acquire the necessary technical skills. With the BEST project, Noé wanted to develop "green" economic sectors by training local communities in ecological restoration and offering them an easy-to-use tool to learn how to harvest and produce pioneer species plants at home, for use in ecological restoration projects.

Implemented in New Caledonia and financed by the European BEST 2.0 program, the aim of the "Strengthening participative and integrated management of the UNESCO property on Touho" project was to strengthen participative management of the coastal zone - classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2008 - through actions accessible to the entire population of Touho. The Hô-üt association was in charge of applying the World Heritage management plan, as well as implementing participatory actions at commune level. The project focused on the mangrove ecosystem, which provides us with food through gathering and fishing. This ecosystem also protects the coastline from tsunamis and cyclones, regulates the climate by capturing CO2, improves water quality by filtering it, is home to pollinating insects, has a strong cultural value, and represents an economic interest for tourism.

The project aimed to transfer the seed bombing technique developed by XGraines to the tribal communities of Poyes, Tiwae, and Vieux Touho, adapting it to the ecological context, specific site challenges, and the available local resources and manpower. The project sought to establish a complete cycle of production, seeding, and monitoring of results by:

1. Analyzing the ecological restoration challenges of the area.

2. Identifying the degraded target areas.

3. Identifying suitable plant species and their phenological schedule.

4. Researching and utilizing raw materials directly sourced from the site (clay, soil, etc.)

5. Purchasing equipment and making it available to the community.

6. Training community members as experts in the technique in all its aspects.

7. Establishing seedling sites.

8. Implementing a monitoring system to track progress.

9. Communicating and sharing results, inviting experts from other communities to learn about the initiative undertaken with the tribes of Poyes, Tiwae, and Vieux Touho.