Rescue in paradise

Six days a week, he is in the woods. Jason Malham, who coordinates the ?Grosse cateau verte? recovery programme for the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation, is a true field worker and nature lover.

Jason was brought up on a diet of sports and nature. «New Zealand is a land of mountains and valleys, an outdoor paradise, where one can practise hiking, climbing?» So the young boy would accompany his father on hunting and fishing parties (not endangered species) and developed a strong link with nature. Even today in Mauritius, Jason would feel strange without his regular mountainbike session? Not to mention his love for nature - beautiful scenery, wildness or adventure. More seriously, he is an internationally renowned field worker, his employer being the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation and his scientific discipline ornithology, the study of birds.

Coordinator of the Echo parakeet - the Grosse cateau verte- recovery programme in the island, Jason Malham came here four years ago. ?I actually work on a seasonal basis for eight months, obviously during this bird?s breeding season.? The recovery programme, which started in1988, when the birds? population had fallen to 12 and threatened to disappear completely, has proved one of the world?s most successful : there are about 270 now.

Still, it has to be scrupulously monitored. This is the task of Jason and of his team. ?It is a specialist?s job but also has a physical side you have to climb trees and steep slopes for bird observation. You must also be prepared to spend almost all week in the forest. It is painstaking but it keeps you fit!?? And it also helps to rediscover a peaceful life and fresh air far from the maddening cars.

But what drove Jason towards birds? ?There is a strong culture of conservation in New Zealand. The national bird, the kiwi, a nocturnal flightless distant relative of the emu, is the country?s national emblem.? If an Australian is called an Aussie, a New Zealander is known as a kiwi. And did you know that the kiwi fruit owes its name to the local fruit industry? In New Zealand, everything is kiwi.

When he joined conservation teams after his school years, Jason first worked as a volunteer. One of his jobs was to study the impact of introduced species on the local ecosystem. He was involved in similar research and conservation programmes for more than seven years - from the wasp bees? influence on the beach forest to the preservation of the giant albatros, in New Zealand?s sub-Antarctic isles.

Then his destiny met that of the Kakapo, a flightless nocturnal parrot, which could have known the dodo?s fate without a preservation programme. It was a huge job to get the Kakapo out of the red. Like the Echo Parakeet here, each member of a family is carefully (and sometimes comically!) identified.

Though he did not contribute personally to the two publications launched by the MWF (see p14), Jason welcomes the possibility it gives to young people to develop an awareness of nature. ?One thing I noticed when I first arrived was pollution. People here sometimes have more basic priorities like earning a living each day than most inhabitants of developed countries, but they should better know their responsibilities, especially towards the younger generation?. Some conservation programmes like that of the pink pigeon are also open to dedicated volunteers. A golden opportunity to discover our unique living laboratory and rediscover our forgotten patrimony.