Lord Howe

Synopsis

The remnant of a volcano, rising from the sea. Two mountains attaining a height of over 800 metres curving round a lagoon inhabited by tens of thousands of multicoloured fish, teeming among extremely rare corals that are intact and quite unique, since they are the furthest south in the Pacific Ocean. The tiny Lord Howe archipelago, off the coast of Australia, encapsulates the landscapes and marvels of the South Pacific in the space of 12 kilometres. Since its consecration by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site its 300 inhabitants face the thousands of constraints which go with that honour. Here the rules are even stricter than on the mainland. The goal of the Island Council is not only to preserve the natural habitat in all its glory, but also to try to get it back to its state before Man arrived in the 19th century. It will go to any lengths to achieve that. The latest extravagance is the reintroduction of a giant insect that everyone thought was extinct. A vast programme is underway, which may seriously perturb the lives of the islanders…