The conservation project

lonti2 — Lonti Paoa, heir to a family tradition
of stone art, builder of the manavai
of the demonstration garden.

The project "Conservation of the native flora of Rapa Nui, Easter Island" offers a botanical conservation space protected from the threats that exist in the wild sectors of the island.

But above all it means a demonstration space, which collects an ancestral innovation of the Rapa Nui culture, the manavai, and presents it as a practical option in the current context of the need to adapt to climate change.
Manavai can be built at low cost, are simple structures that are easy to maintain and are strongly rooted in the tradition and landscape of the island. Not only that, but they also represent an important lesson in resilience and innovation.

A small garden with a big idea

This space is inserted in a green area of more than 4 thousand m2, with open areas and a set of ancestral constructions called "manavai."
The manavai and open areas have been planted together with children and young people using the main native and endemic species of Easter Island available for propagation, most of them with serious conservation problems.
The designated area consists of a well-controlled area under constant supervision, protected from forest fires, livestock and invasive species, which are common problems and limitations in the territory's wild spaces.
This area is associated with the Mataveri Otai Nursery, the CONAF administrative facility and in the future it will be part of an education center for conservation in an initiative that CONAF and the Mesa del Mar are jointly managing.
This demonstration garden, despite its small scale, nevertheless represents an ex situ conservation effort in a territory whose floristic biodiversity is extremely threatened by climate change and the extensive occupation of the island territory.

23 species

5 endemic species

6 interpretive panels

+20 manavai

+10 thousand beneficiaries

+4 thousand m2 of green areas

The impact on the Rapa Nui community

A key component of this project is education and integration with the community.
Within the environmental education plan, the values of respect for the natural heritage will be reinforced and young people will be especially encouraged to acquire greater sensitivity and awareness of the environment in general and the problems that affect it.
In this sense, the manavai are a key element where the historical, cultural and natural, as well as the ancient and the current, come together.