Are postcard beaches doomed to disappear in Guadeloupe? Accused of promoting coastal erosion in the French archipelago, coconut trees are also threatened by a deadly disease, pushing ecologists to question the future of these trees, which are nevertheless representative of local scenery.
On La Perle beach, known for its golden sand and turquoise waves which border the town of Deshaies, in the north of Basse-Terre, the coconut trees will be removed. Part of it at least. “We still have to determine the exact number of trees that we are going to remove,” specifies Rona Dacourt, head of a European biodiversity preservation program in Deshaies, which should last two years.
“We realized that north of Pearl Beach, the coastline is receding,” points out Ms. Dacourt.
And coconut trees, planted by local residents or by stranded coconuts carried by the ocean, complicate the fight against the retreat of the coastline, according to several studies. The “root system of the coconut tree is very small (less than 1 m²)”, and does not allow it to fix the sand in the soil, which reinforces erosion when the coconut trees fall, or in the event of strong swells, points out a document from the Guadeloupe environment, planning and housing department.
“The coconut palm is an exotic species”, not endemic, recalls Julien Lorthios, of the French Biodiversity Office. He recommends, like other experts, replanting more endemic species to slow the erosion of the coastline, even if it means installing coconut trees behind the beach.
– Tropical yellowing –
“No longer having a coconut tree, it’s a bit of a shame for the imagination we have of the postcard, but there’s still sand and hot water,” say Liliane and Gary, a couple of young retirees who came spend the holidays in the West Indian archipelago.
The beach of their hotel is affected by another scourge which affects the tree emblematic of the tropical atmosphere: fatal yellowing, which has led to the felling of nearly 50 coconut palm trees in the area.
“The disease is carried by a tiny insect, which looks like a small cicada, which contaminates the tree and dooms it when the first symptoms appear,” explains Fabian Pilet, researcher at CIRAD, an agronomy research center, who reports cases of “decimated” palm groves in other countries of the world, including the Caribbean, as in Jamaica in the 1980s. “The disease has existed for a long time: we find a description of it in a poem Haitian of the 19th century”, he notes.
“We spot the disease when the young coconuts fall and the palms turn yellow,” explains Aurore Cavalier, plant health officer at Fredon Guadeloupe, the plant expert organization. “However, a sample will be required to confirm the disease before considering slaughter.”
Very contagious, this disease requires immediate felling of the palmacea to avoid contamination with other species of palm trees. For the moment, nine outbreaks have been identified in Guadeloupe, in various municipalities of the archipelago, in private homes or in the public domain, notably on beaches and on several types of palmaceae.
“We do not know how to treat or contain the disease, but we can mitigate its effects by replanting” for “each felled tree,” underlines Mr. Pilet.
Although under surveillance, the disease has not yet panicked the public authorities. The coconut economy in Guadeloupe is completely informal, centered around roadside coconut water sellers, and ultimately mainly exploited by tourism, which feeds on its image to inspire vacationers.
