[1/5] Image of a Moai damaged in a forest fire inside the Rano Raraku volcano in Rapa Nui park, Easter Island, Chile November 15, 2022.
REUTERS/Pablo SanhuezaHANGA ROA, Easter Island, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Charred Moai stone statues on Easter Island, singed in a wildfire earlier this year, are signs of a growing tension between landowners and conservationists in this tiny, remote island in the middle of the Pacific.
Chilean government data show wildfires on Easter Island have exploded in recent years, with the last two years seeing the most on record going back to the 1990s.
CLAN SYSTEMThousands of miles of ocean separate Rapa Nui from its closest continental neighbor and the island has fascinated visitors and archaeologists for centuries with its giant stone Moai.
But some islanders instead want a return to the clan system which existed before the 1888 treaty between one of the last kings of Rapa Nui and Chile.