Pilot atoll

RARAKA, TUAMOTU

Raraka is the atoll where TORA Initiative runs its pilot programme. A site representative of the Tuamotu, selected for its engaged community and documented ecological characteristics.

Overview

A representative Tuamotu atoll

The atoll of Raraka is part of the Tuamotu archipelago, the largest coral atoll archipelago in the world. Located in French Polynesia, it displays the typical characteristics of low-altitude atolls: historic coconut groves, land held in indivision, a local community attached to its land.

Raraka was selected as the pilot site because of the early commitment of local landowners to the TORA initiative, the quality of OTIA cadastral coverage available, and its ecological representativeness for a potential scale-up across the Tuamotu.

Phase 1 pilot data

Target mandates
10 owners
Planned area
50–100 ha
Estimated potential
200–500 tCO2e (uncertified)
Estimated price
€20–30 / tCO2e
Estimated annual revenue
€4,000–15,000 / year

Uncertified estimates — Plan Vivo 2027–2028

10

Owner mandates

50–100 ha

Planned area

200–500 tCO2e

Estimated potential

The carbon contributions presented are uncertified estimates. Plan Vivo certification is targeted for 2027–2028.

Field mission

Inventories and calibration

Mission objectives

  • Botanical inventory of mandated parcels
  • Calibration of TBA coefficients on real field data
  • MRV methodology validation with owners
  • Reduction of uncertainty from ±30% to a certifiable range

Protocol

  • Standardised field form (KoBoToolbox, 16 questions)
  • Cross-referencing with Sentinel-2 imagery (NDVI)
  • OTIA georeferencing of inventoried parcels
  • Public mission report after validation

Local community

The primacy of landowners

The Raraka pilot programme is built with and for local landowners, not despite them. The entire framework, mandates, redistribution, local governance, communications, is designed so that the community remains the primary actor and beneficiary of the valorisation of its land.

The local committee includes representatives of mandate-granting owners. Informed consent is a prerequisite for entry into the programme. Redistribution rules are contractual and public.