How did New Caledonia evolve?

The ecological richness of New Caledonia is one of the lasting mysteries of natural history. High concentrations of nickel are usually toxic to plants, but here evolution took an unusual path. In the course of tens of millions of years, the island’s infertile soils came to nurture a flora unlike any other in the world.

Is New Caledonia a nickel producer?

But one of the next largest producers is tiny New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the Pacific which is less than a hundredth of the size of Indonesia. “I have never seen nickel deposits like we have in New Caledonia,” Miguel Ate, a geologist from the territory’s Indigenous Kanak community, told me.

Does Prony resources New Caledonia support decarbonization?

"Prony Resources New Caledonia's commitment to decarbonization is both ambitious and pioneering in the industry. We are very proud to support their energy transition, and that of New Caledonia," said Thierry Muller, CEO of TotalEnergies Renewables France. "As industrial firms, we think and act responsibly.

Could New Caledonia be a'silver Bullet' for environmental conservation?

Scientists still discover, on average, a new plant species there every month. In 2000, a team of scientists argued, in Nature, that defending New Caledonia and other biodiversity hot spots could be a “silver bullet” for environmental conservation.

Do plants in New Caledonia contain nickel?

Botanists have found more than ninety plants in New Caledonia that hyper-accumulate nickel in their tissues and fluids, along with plants that specialize in other metals, such as cobalt and manganese.

How long did a New Caledonian rain forest take to recover?

One study estimated that a New Caledonian rain forest needed two hundred and fifty years to recover from a fire; mountains scarred by nineteenth-century fires, which had been set to clear forests, still looked like the knuckles of fists that had punched through the earth.