ARU KOMO, preservation of the water resource on the Anaa atoll

This project, which follows a Nature-based Solutions approach, aims to better understand and preserve the water resource of Anaa Atoll in order to protect the inhabitants of Tukuhora village from risks linked to climate change, while providing benefits for biodiversity.

Given that forest ecosystem fragility exacerbates the problems linked to water resources, both in terms of quality and quantity, the Pu tahi haga no Ganaa association will carry out a project to restore a natural forest on raised coral (heo), which is a priority conservation area on Anaa Atoll.

This project will be carried out in close cooperation with the local population in order to better define and understand the uses of water, as well as to raise awareness of the medium and long-term issues involved and the need to preserve the biodiversity that closely interacts with this water resource.

Anaa is a raised atoll in the north-western Tuamotu Archipelago. Its geology gives its unique characteristics related to freshwater resources, with several natural wetlands and the presence of groundwater with poorly understood hydrodynamics.

For example, many caves in the heart of the heo (limestone structures formed from coral) contain freshwater pools. In the face of climate change, freshwater resources have become a major concern for the population, as well as for the atoll's very specific ecosystems.

This issue is especially crucial in the context of the increasing scarcity of natural atoll forests in French Polynesia, due largely to intensive copra cultivation and recurrent fires linked to agricultural practices. The fragility of forest ecosystems accentuates the problems linked to water resources in terms of both quality and quantity.

The project therefore proposes to undertake actions to restore the degraded natural forest of the Tukuhora priority conservation area in order to preserve the water resource of the village of Tukuhora.

This project will contribute to the preservation of the water resource of the Anaa Atoll as an adaptation to climate change, while providing benefits for biodiversity and ensuring a sustainable water resource for the population in the long term.

In addition, the project will address several other societal challenges:

• Protection against natural hazards: the capacity of ecosystems to provide solutions to natural hazards is increasingly recognised, and in particular the role of coastal vegetation in protecting human populations from cyclonic swells. Thus, the proposed SfN will contribute to addressing the challenge of natural hazards, including increasingly strong swells.
• Security of water supply: the water use protocol developed through the project will enable the local community to better manage the water resource.
• Food security: the ancestral agricultural technique of cultivation pits will be promoted within the framework of the project with the establishment of a demonstration taro cultivation pit, with the medium and long term aim of contributing to food self-sufficiency in the atolls.

Objectives of the project

1. To develop an ecosystem-based water use protocol for the population in order to protect this resource in the long term.
2. Restore the degraded natural forest in the Tukuhora Priority Conservation Area in order to preserve the water resource of the village of Tukuhora.
3. Raise awareness of the importance of good groundwater management and the protective role of the natural forest, in order to raise awareness of their importance (including cultural awareness).

Social inclusion and gender equity

80% of the association's members are women and the administrative manager of the project will be a women. The participation of women in the project's activities will be encouraged, while all members of the association are from the atoll.