Réunion National Park
Encyclopedia
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
on the island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, an overseas department of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
located in the western Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
region. Established on 5 March 2007, the park protects the endemic ecosystems of Les Hauts, Réunion's mountainous interior.
Planning for the park
Proposals to create a regional natural park were first raised beginning in 1992. Three years later, the Réunionnaise Environmental Charter and the Regional Development Plan formally established the principle that a park should be created in Les Hauts. The concepts of sustainable developmentSustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
were central to these proposals, which explicitly intended to combine protection of Réunion's natural and cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
with promotion of economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
.
On 6 November 2000, the Minister of the Environment and Regional Planning
Minister of the Environment (France)
The Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing is an agency of the government of France, centred around a cabinet member who is often referred to as the "Minister of Ecology". This position is occupied by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet...
Dominique Voynet
Dominique Voynet
Dominique Voynet was a French senator for the département of Seine-Saint-Denis, the mayor of Montreuil and a member of The Greens.-Life:...
launched the process to create a national park on Réunion. Subsequently, on 7 February 2001, a working agreement was signed to guide efforts toward establishing the park.
After an intense period of studies, debates, dialogue, and negotiations, the steering committee issued its report on 12 March 2003. The Les Hauts National Park Project outlined ambitions and principles for the creation of a "national park for a new generation". It was shortly before the final public hearing at the end of 2006 that the working name of Les Hauts National Park was dropped in favor of Réunion National Park.
The park officially came into existence on 5 March 2007 through a decree taken after advice by the Council of State, with a formal inauguration on 9 July. In its final form, the new national park incorporated two pre-existing nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s:
- Saint-Philippe Mare-Longue Nature Reserve, which had protected the Mare Longue Forest in Saint-PhilippeSaint-PhilippeSaint-Philippe is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located in south-eastern Reunion.-Geography:Saint-Philippe is on the highest point on the island. It borders the municipalities of Saint-Joseph and Sainte-Rose, to the west and north respectively. Although it is a...
communeCommunes of FranceThe commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
since 1981. - La Roche Écrite Nature Reserve, which protected the habitat of the endangered Reunion cuckoo-shrikeReunion Cuckoo-shrikeThe Réunion Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina newtoni, is a critically endangered forest bird from the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. This species in the cuckoo-shrike family is restricted to two small patches of forest in the north of the island....
(French: tuit-tuit), an endemic forest birdBirdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
, on the slopes of the 2276 metres (7,467.2 ft) Roche Écrite massif. Established in the 1990s, it straddled the territories of Saint-Denis and La PossessionLa PossessionLa Possession is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the northwest side of the island of Réunion, between the capital of Saint-Denis and the commune of Le Port. The commune is twinned with Villeneuve-d'Ascq, in France....
communes.
Park mission
Guiana Amazonian Park
Guiana Amazonian Park is one of the nine national parks of France, aiming at protecting part of the amazonian forest located in French Guiana...
in French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
, which was established at the same time, but in order to protect the biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
within its boundaries. The number of endemic species on the island is triple that of Hawaiʻi
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, and four times that of the Galapagos
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
.
Park features and wildlife
Management
Budget and structure
The park began with a budget of €2 million in its first year. As its activities expand, the budget is slated to progressively increase to €8 million. Park headquarters is at La Plaine-des-PalmistesLa Plaine-des-Palmistes
La Plaine-des-Palmistes is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion.-Geography:It lies in the eastern part of the island, on the RN3 road, south west of Saint-Benoît and northesast fo the Col de Bellevue. It is known for its nearby forest and for the Biberon Falls...
.
The park is governed by an administrative council composed of 88 members. The administrative council elects 15 from among its members to serve as an executive committee. They are advised by a scientific council composed of 18 members and 5 outside experts. Plans additionally call for the creation of an economic, social, and cultural council.
Management issues
The park administration has supported exploration for geothermal power sources on the Plaine des Sables, against the advice of the scientific council and despite the fact that the park may soon be proposed as a World Heritage SiteWorld Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.