During his recent visit to Praslin, President Danny Faure described ‘Le Ravin de Fond Ferdinand’ as a goldmine that can generate revenue for its own upkeep if tapped into correctly.

And the possibility of attracting science research through a comprehensive management of its precious resource, the coco de mer nuts, is something that should not be ignored.

Didier Dogley, Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change, was also present.

Today the Environment Page brings you a bit of history and current state of Fond Ferdinand. The infos were collected from the management of the reserve, the Praslin Development Fund.

Initial stage

Due to heavy poaching whereby palmist palms were being destroyed and coco de mer trees were being cut down with chainsaw, the then President France Albert Rene requested the Praslin Development Fund (PDF) to take over the management of Fond Ferdinand from January 2000. Two armed guards were stationed at Fond Ferdinand on a 24-hour-basis.

During the first six months of 2000, Fond Ferdinand collected a total of nine nuts. In 2007, the production of coco de mer peaked at an average 1,494 nuts per year of which 158 were replanted. Since then the number has steadily declined due to poaching of immature nuts and dry nuts. Today Fond Ferdinand is collecting around 62 nuts per month of which 20% is replanted in line with Fond Ferdinand’s management plan drawn in 2002 by John Neville.

Much effort was dedicated in establishing  the status of Fond Ferdinand as a special coco de mer reserve, which the PDF the legal framework to preserve and improve the conservation of primarily the coco de mer and the general biodiversity of indigenous and endemic flora and fauna.

At a certain point in time Fond Ferdinand was closed to visitors, reason being that government did not see it fit at that time to have competition with the Vallée de Mai for reasons that Vallée de Mai was collecting all possible revenues to manage both the Vallée de Mai and particularly the Aldabra atoll.

Midstate stage

Over the years, the basic infrastructure of the Fond Ferdinand were developed including footpaths , firebreaks, over 1,300 trail steps so as to better manage the 133-hectare reserve.

At the same time, the rehabilitation of fire affected areas in five main localities were prioritised by the planting of over 2,000 coco de mer seeds and more than 5,000 plants of endemic and indigenous species.

Fond Ferdinand also carried out surveys to establish clear and consistent demarcation of its exterior boundaries to better secure the reserve as well as consolidate its conservation programmes.

In March 2016, due to the isolation of Anse Marie Louise with scarcity of public transport in the Consolation area, management found it necessary to purchase a Toyota Hiace 12 seater mini bus to ferry staff and visitors to and from Fond Ferdinand, thus, increasing substantially number of visitors to the reserve.

Present stage

Today Fond Ferdinand boasts a population of around 7,000 coco de mer trees of which 800 are bearing fruit females, 1,250 males and 4,950 juveniles. Fond Ferdinand has never benefitted from any financial assistance from government or consolidated funds.

“What we have achieved to date is solely by its own revenue via sales of codo de mer and kernels,” said Michel Gardette, chief executive of the PDF.

In 2013 when the reserve was opened to visitors, 644 of them visited Fond Ferdinand, bringing the reserve an extra revenue of R64,000. In 2016, a total of 5,240 visitors visited the reserve, generating a total revenue of R655,000.

“Due to the ever-increasing costs of salary, transport, maintenance, security contract, uniforms and safety equipment etc…, Fond Ferdinand finds itself under very tight cash flow which has reduced its activities to only the bare minimum to maintain the reserve,” said Mr Gardette. “We have the potential to attract more visitors but to do so we need improvement of infrastructure, e.g kiosks at Aux Louis and Baie Ste Anne view, more professionally-trained guides, the security of Fond Ferdinand must be enhanced since we are continuously experiencing pilferage,” he said.

The biggest threat facing Fond Ferdinand right now is the risk of fire from anarchists and arsonists. For this reason Fond Ferdinand is continuously cleaning its outer boundaries as well as the fire break systems on a highly laborious basis. Security guards will from March 1 be patrolling Fond Ferdinand with trained dogs.

“To move forward, Fond Ferdinand needs the financial assistance of government in the short and medium term in order to raise our infrastructural and operational services,” Mr Gardette said.

To this effect President Danny Faure has asked Minister Dogley to quickly kick start the process of obtaining funds for the reserve under the Environment Trust Fund as immediate solution while a more comprehensive financial assistance is being worked on at cabinet level.

Warning bell

Meanwhile Mr Gardette, through the PDF, has issued a warning bell.

In 2007 statistics collected showed that there was a total of 677 nuts on the trees. This has steadily declined. In 2010 there were 3,399 nuts; in 2011 the number was 5,077 nuts and in 2016 only 3,743 nuts were recorded.

“Should we fail now to address the necessary security needs of Fond Ferdinand, there will be no more coco de mer within the next ten years,” concluded Mr Gardette.

A bit of history of Fond Ferdinand

(Compiled by Nigel Valmont of PDF)

In 1881 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gordon declared the palm coco de mer ‘The tree of knowledge’ and that Praslin was “all that remained of the Garden of Eden”. He also stated “mankind has to preserve from destruction a tree interesting in so many ways to the whole civilised world”, a tree which cannot fail to attract attention by anyone seeing it. He gave a brief description of the nut saying “the fruit externally represents the thighs and belly adding gratuitously that this was the true seat of carnal desires”.

In 1894 under British colony, negotiations were underway through the Anglican minister on Praslin, Mr Pickwood at that time, to buy the ravines of Fond Ferdinand held by the elderly Scots seaman Campbel in the South East of Praslin. The ravine was finally bought for a sum of R4,400 the same year. It had more than 2,500 fully-grown trees and 43 coco de mer trees in full bearing plus acres of vanilla. Once government had possession of the land, the production of nuts increased dramatically. In 1894 only 150 nuts had been produced, a figure which rose to about 700 by 1901.

Fond Ferdinand reserve now covers an area of 150 hectares, with altitude range of 10-300m. It is owned by the government and managed since 2000 by the Praslin Development Fund. It was the first area on Praslin to be bought as a coco de mer reserve. The reserve is also unique due to its current status of special reserve.

It has an outstanding scenic beauty which overlooks five surrounding islands – Curieuse, Sister Island, Coco Island, Round Island, Felicité, and La Digue, while in the other direction you can spot Frégate, Mahé, and Silhouette. If the weather is clear, you may even be able to spot Denis Island on the horizon.

The reserve also has a safe stone-built trail which extends to a distance of more than two kilometres. The rich biodiversity includes numerous rare endemic flora and fauna species. Due to endemic species, especially the coco de mer, growing naturally on Praslin and Curieuse, the reserve must be considered as an area of ecological supremacy.

 Compiled by M. Julie

Forrás: www.nation.sc