New Caledonia, Beyond the Lagoon: Wild Beauty and Sacred Lands of the Pacific – Documentary

South Pacific: picture a majestic island stretching about 500 kilometers in length and 60 kilometers in width Mountains a lagoon lush vegetation—just like our childhood dreams of paradise New Caledonia is a haven of nature its grand N conferring upon it a distinguished identity especially UNESCO which has just designated more than half of the 24 000 km² of lagoons as a World Heritage site On land the same richness exists In the southern part of the island 75% of plant species are endemic—found nowhere else on Earth New Caledonia also boasts a subsurface rich in minerals Her red soil contains chromium iron copper and above all the king of metals—nickel A financial windfall for the island but also a major ecological risk These delicate resources which define the island's identity must be protected to ensure their survival New Caledonia is a gem to watch During our journey we will meet women and men who through their actions are striving to protect nature We'll go grow the bennetiers with the Yabé tribe in the northeast of Great Land Still in the east Josette will take us to explore the mangrove where she grew up We head offshore to plant trees with the residents of Guapin in the heart of New Caledonia And finally we’ll head toward the untouched lands of the Loyalty Islands on Lifou Island a dreamlike spot still perfectly preserved But it was in the air that we had our first meeting Martial Dodone is somewhat the eyes and ears of the southern province—pollution illegal constructions garbage dumps Martial the photographer captures everything that harms nature He flies over the entire southern region for various provincial services However environmental preservation missions are the most common I started photography at the age of twelve I'm not sure if I truly intended this career for myself When I had my motorcycle accident they were probably expecting me to spend the rest of my days sitting behind a computer with a blanket over my legs That's not exactly what I had in mind It's true that the first time I tried aerial photography I was hooked Martial lives in a charming rural spot half an hour from Nouméa With his photos Martial merely documents what he sees Once home he forwards them to the relevant departments which will handle initiating any necessary procedures Injured at 16 Martial found a new sense of freedom in his chosen profession For fifteen years of aerial photography I've never grown indifferent When I see landscapes like these there's a touch of national pride I've always loved flying I think it runs in the family I have a brother who's a pilot too It's definitely related to my disability Up there I feel good I feel incredibly free unburdened by movement able to look to let my eyes wander far away Naturally it's another perspective we're not accustomed to considering At first I saw it as spying used for repression As I gradually discovered over the years the destruction taking place along the coastline I took this to heart because I was born there grew up here it's my country I must contribute my part to preserving this stone Double meaning of "caillou" since it's a pebble in the middle of the ocean But it's also a pebble in the photographic sense of the word meaning a gem a beautiful stone About a decade ago we began monitoring the coastline and the public maritime domain And it's true that over the past ten years it has grown enormously Whether economic projects or industrial ventures such as the Southern Plant for example or private promotions similar to housing developments springing up along the coast That's why in my opinion temporal tracking is important and monitoring anomalies along the coastline is also crucial to enable timely intervention and preserve the area for as long as possible It also secured the inscription of sections of reefs on UNESCO's World Heritage List so we must be doubly careful not because it's listed by UNESCO but it is precisely because it is recognized as a World Heritage site that we must absolutely preserve the entire lagoon and its biodiversity The local community also took ownership of its lagoon As part of the UNESCO program men and women collaborated to establish marine protected areas We're heading north into the territory to meet them As for Martial we'll find him later This morning Jean-Pierre and the elders of the Yabé tribe are searching for a treasure Jean-Pierre lives in Poum at the very top of Grande Terre on the eastern coast He is Caldoche meaning a white person descended from the first settlers You'll see here it is So from here the entire area lined up like this all the way over there You'll find the 100 béniquiers there Jean-Pierre has a secret—he knows how to grow rolling bean plants A critically endangered species within the Yabé tribe The dish greatly cherished by the people of New Caledonia is suffering from overfishing and its resources are dwindling Thanks to a program established by the province and non-governmental organizations And thanks to Jean-Pierre the residents of Yabé are now determined to repopulate their lagoon You're happy here coming to fetch béniquiers for the tribe Oh yes I think we'll start a breeding operation there too at Poum Is this a nice exchange Oh yes it's a nice exchange As long as we can recreate new beniquiers I don't think we can do better anywhere on the planet right now The hundred bivalves must be tagged before release A little stress for our shellfish but a great moment when Jean-Pierre teaches the chef how to do it The Kanaks the island's original inhabitants and the Kaldosh They live side by side not necessarily together This cooperation also offers a chance to exchange ideas On each other as well as on the béniquiers There he's good there you can see he's been under a bit of stress But that's perfectly normal And there we put the graffiti In our cultures we know there are taggers around here To the right to the left but we don't know where it's coming from Fortunately there's the province—thankfully they sent us scientists to help explain the laying process a bit That's why we brought our young ones here so they can see what we the elders are leaving behind for them Are you going to become experts in holy water fonts I think so Some have already begun to reopen There that's good now It's clear they're quickly regaining control That's why it was important to keep them afloat until we reboarded them for Puebo There they are happy—look can't you see Despite the stress we're still in the first phase There will be a second one a third one but now it could be unlimited Already through the areas where we began there I think that's already a good thing But well know today that achieving good reproduction requires We should aim to install at least 1 000 benches in the area That will be accomplished within three years My dream is to see béniquiers growing everywhere in New Caledonia that's it It's six o'clock Transport time dry béniquiers six hours An unusual transhumance The rolling béniquiers hit the road to travel from the east coast to the west coast It is in Puebo on the lands of the Yabé tribe that they will be released into the water After a night of rest near the coast the béniquiers will go to find their new home The news of the béniquiers' arrival had reached the women Even though they're already salivating over it The béniquier salad isn't ready just yet Did you see the béniquiers this morning Yes we saw them So what They're big fat fools They're not small ones They're big béniquiers We'll wait a bit and then go fishing for béniquiers But men rarely go fishing for béniquiers— it's usually women who do Is that why there are more of them now That's right because we always end up catching those darned béniquiers Yes it's mostly the women who go fishing for béniquiers Especially those two old ladies Because it's terrible for Billy To protect their lagoon the women have also come up with a wonderful idea Nadia Eyo elected at the provincial level is behind it environmental officer who is behind it The reef the lagoon— it's classic It's part of the marine protected area We've talked a lot about the turtles who choke on the plastic bags So we said well to prevent this we'll try using bags that are safer They would rot away on land And even if you throw them into water they still rot Made from natural materials so you can clearly see conut leaves or with pandan leaves they find in nature Once its use is finished It rots on its own They do that in practically ten minutes The moms they'ready now to head to the store you know with bags like these Right moms So when you come back—maybe in five years I don’ t know—those little pouches might no longer exist Operation Baptismal is underway Jean-Pierre came to say goodbye to them The 100 baptismal fonts will be dispersed the lagoon around 8 buoys in their natural habitat so they have the best possible chance of survival There are still some water tanks remaining in Yabé but the elders have clearly noticed that the supplies are dwindling Guillard the chef has his own little theory about the reasons behind this disappearance With the arrival of electricity with the freezer there's money and when you run a little Everything is shared right now That's partly why we destroyed all of this But here among the tribe we often say that at creation because we are Protestants we are believers God created the animals the creatures that are on the earth those that are in the sea and then He created man to rule over the animals To master something doesn't mean to destroy it The solution lies in humanity It has destroyed but somewhere we must Just as we do If the man is destroyed somewhere he must be put back in place That is all he can do himself But the creation of God It's a bit difficult to recreate so we must preserve what remains We think of ourselves we think of the generation coming after us They too must see what a baptismal font is what a starfish is what a dawa is a dugong Broodstock bivalves should spawn during the warm season It will take three to four years so that the elders and the elderly came to see UNESCO's ranking has designated this part of the lagoon as a protected marine area with established regulations yet local tradition and the wisdom of the elders remain deeply rooted ad already established fishing zones with regulated limits Some even have a mystical quality like this forbidden zone where one cannot go without the tribe's permission Nadia came with us This is the first time she's entering the zone I'm quite pleased to see the respect our elders show and that they will pass it down from generation to generation This respect has endured It's already a natural and traditional reserve Do you see the blue hole It's forbidden It's the passage It's a passageway that goes inward We'll see how it turns out when it descends to the bottom I'll explain it to you first so that things stay better there Here this is a home It is a haven of the spirit When you come in here it's like coming into someone's home We always come back to this place but we mustn't do anything foolish When you do foolish things you see them right away For instance if we come by boat The boat runs well but it can still break down You must not speak in other languages We are going to dump garbage into the water The banana hand When we go into the blue we'll leave it behind It's as if we're making a sacrifice to get there We're used to coming home We're out now Now we can talk in any language It's impressive yet still frightening Just with the color alone you can't think straight As he told me he just told me himself There was a scientist who came by and didn't find the bottom Add to that me who isn't particularly fond of the sea It frightens me even more After reaching the Champagne-de-Moteur shore we leave the west coast To find Martial in the south Today he is above Nouméa Nouméa is the capital of New Caledonia It is in this city that over 60% of the population resides It is the largest French-speaking city in the Pacific Life in Nouméa is expensive The housing market pressure has driven up rents to the same level as a city like Paris There we are monitoring once again the lost area of the maritime zone For example there is a person blocking part of the maritime area with a barrier extending almost all the way to the sea But it could also be the degradation of mangroves simply because one person wants to take his boat out to sea So he digs a channel through the mangrove Naturally one could say A lion two meters or even three meters wide by ten meters long isn't that large But if you multiply that by the number of people along the coastline it could cause massive damage to the mangrove It must be preserved because many others have already been destroyed The mangrove truly acts as the filter for what flows out from the land especially after heavy rains for example And above all it's a vast nursery for all marine life Between the waters between the rivers and the turquoise lagoon lies the mangrove formed by mangrove trees A remarkable ecosystem fish crustaceans mollusks birds and bats In the marine protected areas around Yengen Certain tribes have clearly understood the advantages they could gain from it Among mangrove defenders is Josette a 23-year-old energetic young woman She grew up in the Pouaille tribe next to the mangrove Josette and her tribe established a tourist trail on their land to raise awareness and better protect this delicate environment by introducing it to others It's already been a year since the trail was inaugurated and Josette began sharing her knowledge Yet the stroll isn't enjoyable just for tourists It allows me to meet people who come to Peubeau and get to know new people— this is also how we travel as for the people who come to our place since we're always at Peubeau we don't see each other often and we don't usually have the same means who come from elsewhere This Bernardin path is almost daily traversed by Josette's father It is along this route that me And before casting his nets he must perform a small ritual near a sacred stone Why do you place the Bernardin stone That's when we go fishing When you ask you stop then give it a splash of water step over to the other side to ask again o have a fruitful catch We follow the tradition that has been established through our lives That's it exactly It doesn't always work does it What are you telling those tourists who come here What are you showing them Where do you take them The daily routine because it's our little treasure a bit beautiful the mangrove the fishing There is no nickel boom nor any companies here we survive solely on fishing and hunting This is how we introduce nature to people who come onto the trail or visit the commune itself Here in the mangrove There's nothing but fools We don't have any crocodiles The cream of the crop And you're fishing for it We fish for it this way We go we search we watch it emerge e roots of the palétubier He lost his claws Someone caught him couldn't hold on and he remained injured for several days In addition to the trail Pouaille 's tribe has built an observation platform above the canopy—the highlight of the experience We've never seen the full height of those palm trees all at once like that A lookout that's a big thing —brand new The lookout though is just a small feature a clever touch along the trail Everyone knows how a mangrove trail is made Everyone knows how palétubiers are made I didn't realize you could see that we had such a vast mangrove It's astonishing to them and a major discovery for the people of the tribe