Actress Laura Dern speaks up on preserving Tetiaroa Atoll and the implications for coral reef conservation and mitigating climate change.
While the world was shut down due to COVID-19, a team of conservationists saw an opportunity. No travel meant no visitors. The world-renowned Tetiaroa Atoll was quiet. It was time to strike.
A local team of scientists led by the not-for-profit organizations Tetiaroa Society and Island Conservation assembled on island, embarking on a ground-breaking restoration project to save the world the best way they know how—by removing invasive rats.
By September 2020, the team had successfully completed their work removing invasive rats from two islands in the atoll. But the job is far from over.
In 2021, the partners plan to restore all twelve islands in Tetiaroa Atoll to protect biodiversity and build resilience to climate change impacts, while leveraging this work with a multi-disciplinary research effort to document benefits to wildlife and the linkage between the restoration of the land and sea ecosystem.
The partners have secured more than 80 percent of the funds needed for the restoration of the remaining nine islands next year. The remaining funds must be secured to green-light the operation and continue this critical research. Laura Dern narrates this call-to-action video about the project and the importance of protecting Tetiaroa.