観光再開のイースター島、コロナ禍で生きた祖先の警告

【ハンガロアＡＦＰ＝時事】巨大なモアイ像で知られるチリ・イースター島は、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）を受け２年以上、観光客の受け入れを停止していた。住民はその間、より持続可能な生き方や忘れられた技術を学ばざるを得なくなった。（写真はチリ・イースター島に立つモアイ像）
　観光客の受け入れは、今月１日から再開された。だが、先住民ラパヌイを含む地元住民は、新型コロナ流行以前とは違う生活を送ろうとしている。
　長老会の会員、フリオ・ホタス氏はＡＦＰに対し、「祖先が予言していた時代が来た」と語った。
　ホタスさんによると、ラパヌイ人の祖先は、いつか島が隔絶された時のため食糧の自給自足の重要性を説いていた。だが、近年こうした警告は無視されてきた。
　チリ西岸から約３５００キロ離れているイースター島はコロナ流行以前、食糧供給をほぼチリ本土に依存していた。
　人口約８０００人の島には、毎年１６万人の観光客が訪れていた。しかし、２０２０年３月、新型コロナ対策として入島が制限された。
　■観光客ゼロ、収入ゼロ
　オルガさんはコロナ流行前、石でつくった小さなモアイ像を観光客に売って生計を立てていた。観光客が来なくなり収入がなくなると、欧州の探検家が島に来る前に祖先がそうしていたように、生きるために畑を耕し、魚をとった。
　「私たちには何も残されていなかった。困難な状況に置き去りにされた。だけど、畑を始めた」とＡＦＰに語った。
　入国制限前、島に野菜などの種を届けてくれる制度があり、オルガさんはこれを利用した。ホウレンソウやビーツ、コリアンダー、フダンソウ、セロリ、バジル、パイナップル、オレガノ、トマトなどを植えた。
　多くの人がそうしていたように、食べきれない野菜は近所の人と分け合った。
　８月上旬、２年４か月ぶりに観光客の乗った飛行機が島に着陸した。以前は１日２便だったが、当面は週２便で徐々に増えて行く予定になっている。
　複数の大手ホテルチェーンは引き続き休業することを決めた。
　長老会のホタス氏は「われわれは観光客の受け入れを続けるが、未来に生かせる教訓をパンデミックから学んだと思う」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/15-15:39）

During more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic, Easter Island was closed to tourism -- forcing inhabitants to turn to a more sustainable way of life and relearn forgotten skills.
Now that the island's borders are open once again, local people, including the Rapa Nui indigenous population, want to resist the temptation to return to their pre-pandemic lifestyle.
The time has come that the ancients predicted, Julio Hotus, a member of the Easter Island council of elders, told AFP.
Hotus said the Rapa Nui people's ancestors had warned about the importance of maintaining food independence because of the risk the island faced of one day becoming isolated, but that recent generations had ignored the warnings.
Before the pandemic, the island's food supply was almost exclusively provided by Chile.
Easter Island lies 3,500 kilometers (2,100 miles) off the west coast of Chile and is world renown for its monumental statues of human figures with giant heads, called moai.
With a population of just 8,000, it used to attract 160,000 tourists a year -- an avalanche according to Hotus -- but in March 2020 Easter Island closed its borders over Covid.
- No tourists, no income -
Olga Ickapakarati used to sell small stone moai figurines to tourists but once she was left without an income, she turned to agriculture and fishing to survive, just as her ancestors had lived before contact with European explorers.
We were all left with nothing, we were left in the wind .... but we began planting, Ickapakarati told AFP.
She took advantage of a program that delivered seeds before the island was shut off from the outside world.
Ickapakarati planted spinach, beets, cilantro, chard, celery, basil, pineapple, oregano and tomatoes.
What she didn't eat, she shared with neighbors, just as many families did in creating an island-wide support network.
All the islanders are like this. They have good hearts. If I see that I have a surplus of something, I give it to another family, said Ickapakarati, who lives with her children and grandchildren.
This new focus on sustainable living does not mean an end to tourism on Easter Island.
Last week, the first airplane of tourists for 28 months landed on the island, to much excitement from the locals desperate to see new faces.
But there will be no immediate return to the two flights a day of yesteryear. There will be just two a week for now, although the number will gradually increase.
Large hotel chains have decided to stay closed.
We will continue with tourists, but I hope that the pandemic has taught a lesson that we can apply for the future, said Hotus.
- 'Archeological heritage at risk' -
Another thing the pandemic did was to create awareness of the necessity to look after natural resources affected by climate change, such as water and energy. And also the emblematic moais.
Carved from volcanic rock by the Polynesian Rapa Nui people between 1200 and 1500, there are more than 900 on the island, which measures 24 kilometers by 12 kilometers.
The statues can measure up to 20 meters in height and weigh more than 80 tons.
Most remain at the quarry where they were originally carved but many others were carted to coastal areas to look inland, presumably for ceremonial purposes.
The moais have been damaged by heavy rainfall, strong winds and the ocean waves crashing against the statues and their bases, leading to fears for their future.
Climate change, with its extreme events, is putting our archeological heritage at risk, said Vairoa Ika, the local environment director.
The stone is degrading and needs to be protected.
The problem with the moais is that they are very fragile, added Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the island's mayor, who says the statues' worth is incalculable.
He said that authorities need to forget about the tourist vision and take protective measures, even if that means covering the statues with glass domes, which would ruin not just the authentic view but also tourists' photographs.
He also wants inhabitants to make maximum use of natural resources and to prioritize locals in employment, while resurrecting the ancestral practise of fostering community solidarity.
From now on the tourist must become a friend of the place, whereas before they were visiting foreigners, said Edmunds Paoa.