9 Dec 2004

New Caledonia warned of degradation over bushfires

4:26 pm on 9 December 2004

An environmentalist in New Caledonia says if action is not taken to combat the bush fires, the landscape of the island could drastically change.

Fires have been burning over the past four months destroying up to 60,000 hectares of forest.

Five fire-fighting experts from France have been sent to New Caledonia where they are consulting with local bodies over how they best can help.

Jean Louis D'Auzon of the Association to Protect Nature in New Caledonia says more money needs to be spent on the equipment and training of firefighters, in order to protect the natural environment.

"The bush fires are burning most of the time the savannah, and the rainforest is burnt on the limits of the forest. The problem is year after year, the surface of the rainforest is decreasing and if nothing is done, in ten years or twenty years, there will be only desert."

Jean Louis D'Auzon of the Association to Protect Nature