The “integrated project for the conservation and restoration of the natural environments of Reunion Island” is a collective territorial project which formulates the ambitious objective of reversing the trend towards loss of biodiversity on the island of Reunion, particularly in the face of the pressure of plant invasions.
The specificity of its management practice lies in the implementation of a living partnership between different key players in the territory, around a fully dedicated Research & Development unit, in order to carry out coordinated and scaled actions. of the island.
Genesis of the integrated conservation and restoration project for the natural environments of Reunion Island
In 2018, the State, the Department, the National Forestry Office (ONF), the Mascarin Botanical Conservatory (CBNM), the Department of Environment, Development and Housing (DEAL Réunion) and Cirad Réunion-Mayotte-Indian Ocean, the University of Réunion, and the Réunion National Park created a working group which made it possible to identify 55,000 ha of areas with conservation issues. conservation, of which more than 5,000 ha require priority control and restoration actions. This made it possible to update knowledge of the state of conservation of natural environments with regard to invasion by plant species, and to begin partnership reflection for a restoration strategy. A new operational action plan has been implemented since 2019, covering more than 1,000 ha of interventions.
As part of the integrated project to restore the natural environments of Reunion Island, an operational unit co-led by a joint team from Reunion National Park and CIRAD, and supported by Green Fund funding, is now coordinating programs with a view to act effectively and collectively in favor of biodiversity. The coordinated pooling of knowledge and strategic, human, technical and financial resources, by actors with a real capacity for action, will make it possible to multiply the possibilities of restoring Reunion's natural environments.
Biological invasions represent a real problem in Reunion because they accentuate the degradation of our natural heritage. But it is also an opportunity because we can develop a regional reference center for habitat restoration and build an economic sector which will offer varied professional development prospects.
Jean-Philippe Delorme
director of the Réunion National Park
This project aims to be an operational translation and a scaling up of activities formerly focused on the fight against invasive exotic plants, towards a now more sustainable and ambitious restoration of Reunion's natural environments. ReMiNat also constitutes the translation of a happy and strong partnership with the Réunion National Park and all managers of natural environments
Eric Jeuffrault
regional director of CIRAD in Réunion-Mayotte-Indian Ocean
The objectives of the National Ecological Engineering Prize
Since 2014, the Federative Association of Actors in Ecological Engineering and Engineering (A-IGÉco) and the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), in partnership with the Water and Biodiversity Directorate of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk Prevention organize the National Prize for Ecological Engineering.
For this fifth edition, the co-organizers are joining forces with Plante & Cité for a special “Urban Environments” prize and are organizing an event dedicated to the presentation of the prize to the winners at the Salon de la Biodiversité et du Génie agricole within the Salon des Mayors and local authorities in Paris.
The objective of this prize is to promote exemplary collective ecological engineering projects, by their design, by the techniques used, by their integration into the local socio-economic context and integrating all the principles of ecological engineering. The aim is to highlight the know-how of this emerging sector and encourage its development.
