The Revelator - Tehani Withers

Tehani Withers

is the island restoration project manager at SOP Manu (Ornithological Society of French Polynesia). She grew up in Tahiti Island (French Polynesia) and is from a multicultural family (part-Kiwi (NZ), Tahitian, French and Singaporean Indian). After high school she studied for six years in New Zealand at the University of Waikato, where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with a focus on restoration ecology. Once she finished her master’s on the Takahe (an endangered, flightless New Zealand bird) for the Department of Conservation, she volunteered for the Department and for various NGOs before being recruited by SOP Manu. That prompted her to go back home and work on French Polynesia’s environmental issues, especially in remote islands such as Rapa, Marquesas, and south of the Tuamotu and Gambier archipelagos.

Voices

Protect This Place: Rapa Island, Home of Rare Seabirds and Beautiful Forests

The most remote inhabited island in French Polynesia is the habitat for several rare indigenous plants and animals, but it’s severely threatened by invasive introduced species.

April 22, 2022

Tehani Withers

The most remote inhabited island in French Polynesia is the habitat for several rare indigenous plants and animals, but it’s severely threatened by invasive introduced species.