Restoration area for Tahiti Monarch

3D Model

SOP Manu focuses on the preservation of wild birds and their habitats in Tahiti and its islands.

For several years now, the organization has been working on a conservation program for the Tahiti Monarch. Located only in 3 valleys in the west coast of Tahiti, this endemic bird is Critically Endangered (CR), and reached the number of 125 individuals in 2021 (19 in 2000). Restoring its habitat is key for its recovery but it is a complex process due to various threats (invasive vertebrates, exotic species that are mostly aggressive invasive, like Tulip tree and Miconia calvescens).

Shifting to a bottom of the valleys with native-dominated forest, home to the Tahiti Monarchs, but also more resistant to climatic events, is essential. Tulip tree Spathodea campanulata is an african tree that fall down easily during storm event, crashing everything and creating landslide never recolonized by forest.

To date 3 000 trees were planted, with good success and survival. This action, mainly done by volunteers, is not an