The Réunion National Park has just developed an experimental development plan for four islets of Mafate : Aurere, Grand-Place, Marla and Roche-Plate. The problems of the landlocked circus, where 850 people live spread across ten islets belonging to the municipalities of Saint-Paul and La Possession, are particularly complex. The land belongs to the Department, which entrusts its management to the National Forestry Office. In most of the cases, the Mafatais do not own the land they cultivate or which shelter their huts, their lodgings and their grocery stores, but holders of concessions which must be regularly renewed by the ONF. Mafate is also part of the “inhabited heart” of the Réunion national park since the creation of the latter in 2007. The proposed development plan, developed in consultation with all partners concerned and with residents, aim to overcome the multiple problems linked to the inadequacy of regulations to the very specific realities of the circus. Its ambition is also to win the support of the Mafatais for a desire shared by institutional actors. : make Mafate an exemplary eco-territory
