Dayu Biik: Kanak Communities Co-Managing New Caledonia's Highest Peak

Created in 2004 with Conservation International and New Caledonia's Northern Province, Dayu Biik is the community-run association that co-manages the Mont Panié massif, the territory's tallest peak and largest forest block. In 2022 the reserve, renamed Thönyë, was expanded from 5,490 to 10,918 hectares, protecting the Critically Endangered Mont Panié kauri and dozens of other species found only on this mountain. Around it live seven Kanak tribes and more than 1,500 people who co-manage the reserve for conservation, ecotourism, and environmental education. Dayu Biik is now working with Rainforest Trust to extend co-management to a further 26,000 acres and 22 additional tribes.