Country

New Caledonia: 2 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

New Caledonia divides between the New Caledonia rain forests, which clothe the wetter mountains and east of Grande Terre, and the much smaller New Caledonia dry forests of the leeward west coast, one of the Pacific's rarest habitats. Both ecoregions rate Half Protected, unusual standing for an island flora this distinctive - and the flora is the point here, an old Australasian lineage rich in endemic conifers and other plants found nowhere else. The climate is warm and oceanic, wet on the windward side and markedly seasonal-dry in the west. Gardeners face the same split: rain-forest conditions favor lush evergreen planting, while the dry west rewards the drought-tolerant natives of the dry forest, whose remnants deserve echoing rather than replacing.