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Dans le cadre du projet PROTEGE une enquête a été réalisée à Maré par l’Agence néo-Calédonienne de la Biodiversité (ANCB) auprès des chasseurs de chèvres ensauvagées. Les objectifs sont d’évaluer les pratiques et l’effort de chasse, le niveau de prélèvements, la capacité et la volonté de diversifier les techniques de chasse et à augmenter l’effort de chasse, au regard des dégâts constatés. Les chèvres ensauvagées (ou férales, Capra hircus) contribuent à la raréfaction de nombreuses espèces végétales natives et à la dispersion et au développement de plusieurs plantes introduites envahissantes. Aux Îles Loyauté des troupeaux de chèvres sont présents sur une grande partie des corniches littorales de Lifou et de Maré, où la chasse de la chèvre ensauvagée répond principalement à un besoin pour les dons et coutumes, et pour l’autoconsommation. Une pré-enquête a été réalisée par l’animateur PROTEGE (également agent de l’ANCB), afin de recenser les chasseurs de chèvres férales sur Maré et de prendre leurs contacts pour la réalisation de l’enquête. Dans un deuxième temps, l’ensemble des chasseurs de chèvres ensauvagées identifiés ont été contactés afin de répondre à l’enquête.

Humanity has altered the planet in many detrimental ways, from the warming of our climate to the ever-diminishing wildernesses on land and in the sea. But in such a complex system as the Earth, science must always keep searching – for both solutions to problems already identified and new threats coming our way. UNEP’s Frontiers Report does this by identifying and exploring areas of emerging or ongoing environmental concern. The 2022 edition delves into three issues: noise pollution in cities, the growing threat of wildfires and shifts in seasonal events – such as flowering, migration and hibernation, an area of study known as phenology.

Humanity is waging war on nature. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth. This report represents a scientific blueprint for howclimate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. The report is a synthesis based on evidence from global environmental assessments.

Rodents remain one of the most widespread and damaging invasive alien species on islands globally. The current toolbox for insular rodent eradications is reliant on the application of sufficient anticoagulant toxicant into every potential rodent territory across an island. Despite significant advances in the use of these toxicants over recent decades, numerous situations remain where eradication is challenging or not yet feasible. These include islands with significant human populations, unreceptive stakeholder communities, co-occurrence of livestock and domestic animals, or vulnerability of native species. Developments in diverse branches of science, particularly the medical, pharmaceutical, invertebrate pest control, social science, technology and defense fields offer potential insights into the next generation of tools to eradicate rodents from islands. Horizon scanning is a structured process whereby current problems are assessed against potential future solutions. We undertook such an exercise to identify the most promising technologies, techniques and approaches that might be applied to rodent eradications from islands. We highlight a Rattus-specific toxicant, RNA interference as species-specific toxicants, rodenticide research, crab deterrent in baits, prophylactic treatment for protection of non-target species, transgenic rodents, virus vectored immunocontraception, drones, self-resetting traps and toxicant applicators, detection probability models and improved stakeholder community engagement methods. We present a brief description of each method, and discuss its application to rodent eradication on islands, knowledge gaps, challenges, whether it is incremental or transformative in nature and provide a potential timeline for availability. We outline how a combination of new tools may render previously intractable rodent eradication problems feasible.