At the venue of the Olympic surfing competitions in Tahiti, Polynesians fight for a reef and a way of life

By Lincoln Feast

TEAHUPO'O, Tahiti (Reuters) – On Tahiti's remote southern coast, whose Jurassic peaks and azure lagoon are accessible only by boat, Patrick Rochette explains how centuries-old Polynesian conservation traditions are being revived to protect this unique environment.

Mixed with gruesome tales of the history of tribal warfare and the roots of surfing on the island, this is a gripping account that resonates with the schoolchildren the Tahitian elder has brought to this idyllic spot near the Olympic surfing venue of Teahupo'o.

Rochette describes, among others, the following interrelated Polynesian concepts that were lost or suppressed during the French colonization of Tahiti: respect for tupuna, the ancestors; mana, the spiritual power of people and places; tapu, the sacred; rahui, a restriction or prohibition; and the guardians – the whales, sharks, and turtles.

“It’s up to the children to go home with this information and explain it to their parents,” says Rochette, a stocky 63-year-old.

For Rochette and others, the fight against the pressures of overexploitation and climate change goes hand in hand with a cultural renaissance of the Pacific island group, a distinct Polynesian identity that stretches across the world's largest ocean.

“If we Polynesians don't do something in 15 or 20 years, there will be nothing left,” Rochette said in a boat speeding along the jungle-covered coast. “We have to do it together, not just here, but the Pacific community has to do this all together.”

The Polynesian Triangle covers about 10 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, with Hawaii, New Zealand (Aotearoa) and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) at its corners. Its people, whose ancestry traces back to a spiritual homeland, are closely linked by language, culture and their seafaring history.

As ideas of sustainability and conservation gain traction around the world, adopting traditional and culturally relevant approaches is becoming increasingly popular among indigenous communities.

In Polynesia, there is a great need for a comprehensive understanding of the moana, the ocean and the concept of protection as pressures on reefs and lagoons increase due to development and climate change.

WAVE OF MANA

Tereva David also works with the local community of Teahupo'o to establish a Polynesian way of life in harmony with the environment.

David is one of the best to have surfed the wild Paris Olympics wave off his village and has spent the last decade running camps for promising young surfers from French Polynesia.

35-year-old David teaches them respect – not only for the wave, but also for themselves, for others, for their culture and their surroundings.

“When my mother was a little girl, she wasn't allowed to speak Tahitian,” he said. “For a while, speaking Tahitian didn't make a good impression – 'Oh, you're too rude or you're from the street or from Teahupo'o, from the bush.'”

Today, Tahitian language and culture are a source of pride in Teahupo'o, where clear rivers flow through the village to the black sand beach and lagoon.

The Olympic gold for 22-year-old local surfer Kauli Vaast also generated great mana, spiritual power and cultural pride.

“In the past, only kings were allowed to surf here,” said David. “For us, surfing is sacred, it's culture – like dancing, canoeing, singing, like preparing food for everyone.”

David said the community had stepped up to ensure that having one of the world's strongest and most enticing waves right on their doorstep was fully beneficial to the village. Locals now provide surf camps, cameramen, taxi boats and water safety patrols when top surfers come for big waves.

“It took a long time, but we've finally done it. Now nobody will come and do it like in the circus – we'll sort it out,” says David.

“For us it was the right thing to do, to represent our mana, our tupuna, to represent our ancestors.”

The Olympics brought new challenges: locals fought to reduce the impact of the new Games infrastructure. For example, they insisted that a new tower on the reef, which will serve as a jury for the surfing competition, should be scaled down to reduce its environmental impact.

RESTORE RAHUI

The reef – “the oxygen we breathe,” says David – is the heart of the surf and the village, a unique, living structure that not only creates the perfect waves but is also the pantry, playground and workplace for almost everyone who lives there.

Ten years ago, however, the reef had problems.

As the land suffers from overfishing and is increasingly hit by destructive storms, the community decided to re-establish a Rahui on a 768-hectare site south of the village and to ban fishing and other activities.

“In the older culture, it was the king who decided these things, and anyone who did not oppose them was killed,” and many people were afraid of this idea, says Rochette, who heads the Rahui of Teahupo'o.

The approach has been modernized and democratized. Communities across French Polynesia now initiate Rahui and decide how to operate them to preserve their environment and resources.

South of Teahupo'o, buoys mark the boundaries of the Rahui area, and locals monitor the zone to ensure compliance. They say the effects are mostly positive: the reef is thriving and fish populations are improving.

Climbing over streams and paths of broken coral, Rochette tells the story of a sacred rock and its role in our ancestors' fishing rituals, recounts battles that turned the lagoon red with blood, and details how twin brothers introduced surfing here.

While cultural aspects were of great importance, it was also important to attribute economic value to the environment.

Cliff Kapono, a Hawaiian coral scientist, surfer and Polynesian activist, worked with locals to use an established formula to map and assess the economic impact that work around the Olympics could have on the reef and lagoon.

Kapono's MEGA Lab estimated direct economic impacts of $170,000 from the disturbance and destruction of coral at the assessment tower site and a total of $1.3 million from the broader disturbance of the reef around Teahupo'o by dredging and other activities.

Beyond the economy, the idea of ​​being guardians of the ocean is an integral part of Polynesian philosophy, Kapono said.

“All across Polynesia, there are people and communities defending their reefs. Whether they're hit by the Olympics, overfishing or nuclear testing, there are people in those communities who will stand up.

“For us in Polynesia, this is who we are, these are our roots,” says Kapono. “This is the war we are waging now. We are fighting for our environment.”

(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti; editing by Michael Perry)