Islands born from a coconut palm... îles et cocotier

Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia:
How Polynesian islands (motu) are being born from a coconut tree....

It is surprising that in many small Polynesian islands, which gives this impression of wild nature, the majority of the coconut palms were planted by islanders, who were omnipresent. Sometimes, during my trips on these islands, people showed me coconut palms and said: they are wild coconut palms! but while looking at well, you will almost always find coconut palms planted in straight line, and the nature seldom makes this kind of line. But not in the following case...

For illustrating this section, we can produce on request at least two large size HD posters (up to 180x100 cm in size). These posters could be adapted to each country, on a case-by-case basis, in order to prominently feature local specificities. The first poster is about how small islands may born from a coconut palm, and the second relates to some very isolated islands, who play a crucial role as kind of traditional breeding place and conservatoire for coconut varieties.
©R. Bourdeix & Tehira (C.A. Tshonfo), 2021, section CFI.

Islands born from a coconut palm! During 2009, the IFRECOR (French Initiative for Coral Reefs) and CRIOBE (Island Research Centre and Observatory of the Environment) funded a scientific survey on the atoll of Fakarava, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia.

Localization of the Fakarava attoll

At the time, Mr. Cyril Tshonfo Ayee said Tahirivairau was president of the Association of the Biosphere Reserve of the Municipality of Fakarava. He welcomed us with great hospitality and he gave us a great deal of valuable information. We also took a boat to visit the numerous motu of the attoll. One of the smallest of the motu was particularly interesting...

The small motu with only
one coconut palm

Tahirivairau indicates that for the Polynesian, a motu is defined as a small island on which vegetation grows. A rock or a sand without vegetation are not motu. According to Tahirivairau, in many cases, "it is the coconut tree which creates the motu." Tehira said and have seen over the years, some sandbanks become small motu. 

Coconuts brought by sea germinate on a sandbar that has not yet stabilized. Then the birds come to rest on the palms. Their feathers or their droppings, the birds carry seeds that are deposited on the sand around the coconut. Bird droppings enrich the soil. We observed this small motu with only one adult coconut palms.

Draft poster explaining how 
Islands born from a coconut palm

Most isolated islands as traditional conservatoire! The oldest description of coconut varieties in French Polynesia can be found in the book "Ancient Tahiti" by Teuira Henry, published in 1928 from data collected by her grandfather in 1840. That publication mentions 16 different varieties or forms of the coconut palm. Coconut varieties, which have been passed down from generation to generation of islanders, are now under threat from the globalization of trade, cultural levelling, industrialization and changes in agriculture.


Niuafo'ou island in Tonga

Teuira Henry indicated the existence of particularly enormous coconuts growing the island of Niu-Fou (now known as Niuafo'ou). The name itself of this island means "New coconut". Niuafo'ou is a tiny island in the Tonga group, with an area of 52 sq. km. The distance to the nearest island is 200km. It is a very active volcano that slopes steeply down to the sea floor. Given its unusual geography, Niuafo'ou was named « Tin can island », because a strange way of receiving its postal communications was adopted. The mail was cast into the sea in a tin box and recovered by men in pirogues.There is no safe anchorage for boats. The repeated eruptions of volcano (1867, 1886, 1912, 1929, 1935-36, 1943, 1946, 1985) caused the destruction of many plantations and villages. Following the eruption of 1946, Niua-fo'ou was evacuated and the government authorized the return of the islanders only in 1958. The two islands in Tonga were different dialects are spoken are named Niuafo’ou (New coconut) and Niua Toputapu (Sacred coconut).

Another place famous for its coconuts is Rennell, a high volcanic island located in of the Solomon archipelago, with an area of 660 sq. km. Its two main features are its volcanic lake, now registered as a world heritage, and its Polynesian population, when other Solomon Islands are mainly populated with Melanesians. Except the small island of Bellona, also populated with Polynesians, the distance from Rennell to the nearest island is 170 km.

Rennell Island in Solomons

The fruits of the variety known as Rennell Island Tall (RIT) are among the biggest coconuts in the world. The fruit shape is quite variable, from oblong to pear shaped. Some of the fruits have a long nipple at the bottom, which is very specific to the RIT. The fruits have a good composition with a high content of solid albumen and free water (see picture 3). Numerous seednuts were collected from different locations in the Rennell Island and sent to other countries. The Rennell Island Tall cultivar (RIT) is now conserved in at least 11 germplasm conservation centres, national and international. RIT is involved as parental material in many coconut breeding programmes. M.A. Foale, who visited the Rennell Island in 1964 and discovered this variety, said that the true-to-type Rennell, with big and pointed fruits, is found only around the volcanic lake on the eastern part of the island. The access from the coast to the volcanic lake is very difficult. It is needed to climb a rocky track with a hard slope, in a forest stuffed with endemic species of poisoning snakes (Laticauda sp., but to be confirmed as villagers do not anymore mention it). But in other places, such as the coastal area, there is a mix between the Rennell Island Tall and the ordinary type, known as the Solomon Island Tall, which has smaller oblong fruits.

Islands in Islands:
the many islands of the Tengano Lake, Rennell Island

As far coconut varieties are concerned, Niuafo'ou and Rennell are the most famous islands in the Pacific region. Similarities between these two islands are hudge. They are both very isolated small islands, at a distance of 170-200 km from the nearest big island ; They have both additionals and successive factors of insulation: difficulties to access by boat, harsh slope to climb to reach the place where grow the coconut palms, risks linked to high volcanic activity or endemic poisoning snakes...

See more at: https://polymotu.blogspot.com

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