On July 4, students and staff from the from theAfrican Leadership College of Higher Education (ALCHE) joined Jayaneesh Namah, Director of Ecological Restoration at La Citadelle à Port-Louis on behalf of Friends of the Environment. They benefited from her vast knowledge and planted new native species on the flanc nord side of Petite Montagne. Dominique Bellier
Ecologists like Jayaneesh Namah have a gift for conveying their passion as soon as they open their mouths. She opened the day of July 4 with the ALCHE team with an information session on Mauritian biodiversity and the challenges and stakes of reforesting the Citadelle’s green spaces, of which Friends of the Environment manages four hectares overlooking Vallée-Pitot.
The biologist first carried out a pilot project to select appropriate cultivation methods for the new plants, despite the arid conditions and initial poverty of a soil degraded by decades of indifference and fires. It was necessary to choose both the right endemic or native species to plant at the right time, and the maintenance techniques adapted to their growth, until they lived in this environment in perfect autonomy.
Today, 80% of the species planted live beyond one year, compared with just 40% in 2015. Initially, the team focused on pioneering plants capable of living in difficult conditions while at the same time regenerating the soil: native vetiver, reinette wood and Harungana… By bringing life back to the soil, these plants create the conditions necessary for endemic species to flourish, which will then populate the dry forest characteristic of the Mauritian coastline. Aloe endemic to the north of Mauritius, Judas wood , olive wood and white ebony already foreshadow the forest of 2075!
