27 July 2011: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) is funding a project to rehabilitate the original fauna and flora of Rodrigues Island in Mauritius.

The project is rehabilitating degraded biodiversity and protecting rare endemic plants within the Anse Quitor Nature Reserve, an area that holds the unique endemic tree of Zanthoxylum paniculatum and the rare Foetidia rodriguesiana, Terminalia benzoe, Antirhea bifurcata, and Gastonia rodriguesiana, which grow along the river banks in the reserve. In addition, the project will help restore the habitat for the only remaining endemic birds of Rodrigues (the Rodrigues Fody and Rodrigues Warbler), and will support conservation of the endangered Rodrigues Fruit Bat. [GEF Press Release]