Natural biodiversity assessment underway

Director and researcher of the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project, Gerald McCormack has flown to Aitutaki to carry out an assessment on the biodiversity of the main island and motus.
The motus of Aitutaki are known worldwide for their picturesque sandy beaches, bountiful and lush greens, land and seabirds plus colourful underwater marine world.
While relief efforts are underway on the main island, the motus were also badly lashed by Cyclone Pat damaging trees and shrubs that have been homes to many island and sea birds. The assessment by McCormack is critical since it would determine what had been damaged, what had been lost and the way forward.
Trees favoured by the bird, the massive Pacific Mahoganies, were uprooted by the 100-180 kilometre-per-hour winds.
McCormack has worked for the Cook Islands Government since 1980. In 1990 he became the director and researcher for the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project (a trust since 1999) a position he has held since.
The Project is a programme of the Cook Islands Government: a) to collect and integrate scientific and traditional information on local plants and animals; and b) to preserve such information, and make it available to the general public.
An accomplished photographer, McCormack is the lead developer of the Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, hosted by the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. Information in the data base are information gathered from local and overseas experts, fieldwork and library research..
The Natural Heritage Project was initiated by Sir Geoffrey Henry within his Prime Minister’s Department in 1990. The Project moved into the Natural Heritage Trust when it was established in 1999 by an Act of Parliament.
This year is the International Year of Biodiversity and the Pacific Year of Biodiversity.
Aitutaki Cyclone Appeal Media