Integrated coastal zone management perspectives to ensure the sustainability of coral reefs in New...

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Integrated coastal zone management perspectives to ensure the sustainabilityof coral reefs in New Caledonia

G. David a,*, M. Leopold b, P.S. Dumas c,d, J. Ferraris e, J.B. Herrenschmidt d, G. Fontenelle f

a IRD, Research Unit ESPACE, IRD Bretagne, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané Cedex, Franceb IRD, Research Unit CoReUs, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledoniac Geography Department, University of New Caledonia (Nouméa), New Caledoniad IRD, Research Unit ESPACE, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New Caledoniae IRD, Research Unit CoReUs, 52 Av. Paul Alduy, Université de Perpignan, 66860 Perpignan, Francef Agrocampus Ouest, UMR 0985 ESE CS 84215 65, rue de St. Brieuc 35042 Rennes cedex, France

a r t i c l e i n f o

Keywords:New CaledoniaIsland economyMineGovernanceLagoonWorld heritageIntegrated coastal zone managementCoral reefsMarine reserve

a b s t r a c t

Based on a pluridisciplinary research programme on New Caledonia’s lagoon (2004–2008), this paperaddresses economic, ecological and political issues in order to implement integrated coastal zone man-agement (ICZM) in this French Pacific territory. The nickel mining industry constitutes the core of there-balancing economic and social strategy between the Northern and Southern provinces. But majorimpacts on the coastal environment of metal-processing plants, harbours, and decades of mine exploita-tion have released a controversy. A short diachronic analysis suggests that such environmental concernsprompted the emergence of collective actions to among civil society, customary and institutional stake-holders. The inscription of New Caledonia lagoon and reef areas in the UNESCO World Heritage List in2008 would be both an outcome and a catalyst of this on-going process. Looking beyond the reefstowards the mainland and watersheds for the construction of local socio-ecological systems, we assumethat the current stakes could result in the initiation of ICZM in New Caledonia.

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a r t i c l e i n f o

Mots clef:Nouvelle-CalédonieÉconomie insulaireMineGouvernanceLagonPatrimoine mondialGestion intégrée des zones côtièresRécifs coralliensAires marines protégées

r e s u m e

A l’issue d’une approche pluridisciplinaire (2004–2008) menée sur le lagon néo-calédonien, cet articles’intéresse aux problèmes économiques, écologiques et politiques liés à la mise en œuvre d’une gestionintégrée de la zone côtière (GIZC) dans ce territoire français du Pacifique. L’industrie minière du nickelconstitue le cœur de la stratégie de rééquilibrage économique et social entre les provinces sud et nord.Mais des impacts majeurs sur l’environnement côtier des usines métallurgiques, des ports et desdécennies d’exploitation minière ont déclenché une controverse. Une brève analyse diachronique sug-gère que ces problèmes ont fait émerger des actions collectives au sein de la société civile et coutu-mière, et des parties prenantes institutionnelles. L’inscription du lagon et des récifs calédoniens aupatrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO en 2008 serait à la fois un résultat et un catalyseur de ce processusen cours. En regardant au-delà des récifs vers la partie terrestre et les bassins versants pour construiredes socio-écosystèmes, nous supposons que la situation actuelle pourrait initier la GIZC en Nouvelle-Calédonie.

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1. Introduction

The Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the Earth Summit’s action pro-gramme in Rio de Janeiro (Strong, 1992), recommends the imple-mentation of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in smallstates and island territories. This recommendation was revisitedat the Barbados Conference on Small Island Developing States in1994 and confirmed at the Mauricius International Conference in

0025-326X/$ - see front matter � 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.06.020

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 2 98 49 87 77.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (G. David), [email protected] (M.

Leopold), [email protected] (P.S. Dumas), [email protected] (J. Ferraris),[email protected] (J.B. Herrenschmidt), [email protected] (G. Fontenelle).

Marine Pollution Bulletin 61 (2010) 323–334

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2006. Up to now, this global dynamic has not prompted muchresponse in New Caledonia where the only noticeable ICZM projectwas limited to a draft strategy for the integrated coastal zonemanagement in the Noumea district1 (Holthus, 1995). This fact isnot the result of a lack of scientific knowledge. Approximately 30researchers from public institutions have permanently worked onthe coastal or maritime environment in Nouméa, the capital-city,for the last 30 years2 (Fig. 1). It results mostly from a lack of demandclearly expressed by the public authorities or by the citizens and thelocal policy makers. First, there is no specific arena where publicauthorities and scientists could meet and exchange informationabout environmental management issues (Antona et al., 2007).Second, up to now, the damage to the coastal environment is not sig-nificant enough to mobilise public opinion through whistleblowersand then to release a change of governance towards ICZM (Hénocqueet al., 2001). However, the growing New Caledonian economy im-pacts the coastal marine environment. Nickel mining and the relatedmetal-processing industry constitute both a major threat to NewCaledonia’s coastal biodiversity, terrestrial and marine, and themain driving force behind the country’s economy. For many NewCaledonians, the economic development and environmental preser-vation remain two contradictarory processes.

Using a pluridisciplinary approach, this paper assumes that thevery recent (July 4th, 2008) inscription of a large part of the NewCaledonian reef on the UNESCO World Heritage list could representa unique opportunity to make these two processes compatible, thento induce a change in governance by putting on the forefront theICZM approach. In the two first sections, we present the synchronicand diachronic dynamics of the economy and the hazards that thesedynamics generate on the New Caledonian lagoon. The third sectionis devoted to the regulating forces that tend to reduce these hazardsin the framework of the environmental and territorial governancein New Caledonia. The fourth section summarizes the main princi-ples of ICZM. Their application to the New Caledonian coastal reefzone is then discussed.

2. The economic dynamics

New Caledonia is managed on a base of three administrativeprovinces (two on the Mainland and one in Loyalty Islands) and33 municipalities (Fig. 1). The population was estimated at theend of 2006 to be about 240,000 of whom 44.5% belongs to theindigenous Melanesian Kanak community. Initiated in 1988, adevolution process is going on until a referendum on Independenceto be held between 2014 and 2019. In 2006, the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) per capita was equivalent to EUR 22,735 i.e. 26% lessthan in Australia but respectively 13% and 89% higher than in NewZealand and Fiji (IEOM, 2008). The New Caledonian economy hastwo main drivers: the financial transfers from Metropolitan Franceand the European Union (Freyss, 1995) and mining activitiestogether with the related metal-processing sector. In a period from1999 to 2007 the French state’s input into the New Caledonianeconomy rose by 39% from EUR 689.41 millions to EUR 956.334

Fig. 1. Administrative framework of New Caledonia.

1 Called ‘‘Grand-Nouméa”, this district includes the capital city and its threeadjacent municipalities (Païta, Dumbéa and Mont-Dore). Over 60% of the newCaledonian population lives there. It accounts for 60% of the population. Beyond thatarea, many local administrative centres (chefs-lieux) do not exceed 1000 inhabitants.

2 The lagoons and reefs of New Caledonia were the subject of two successiveprojects funded by the French National Program for Coastal Environment (PNEC:2001–2004 and 2005–2009). Moreover, since 1995, the public authorities have beenfunding a research programme (ZONECO) carried out on the New Caledoniansurrounding deep-sea and coastal areas.

324 G. David et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 61 (2010) 323–334


millions (IEOM, 2001, 2008), providing a 19.5% increase per capita(from EUR 3327 to EUR 3978). This trend is not compatible withthe political deadlines the country is facing for the future. Decreas-ing the country’s vulnerability to the financial transfers fromMetropolitan France is therefore a leitmotiv both for the supportersof independence and those who support a greater autonomy. Giventhe mining resources of the New Caledonia’s Mainland (9% of the ofworld nickel reserves), the development of the metal-processingsector is considered as the most suitable means of achieving thisgoal.

Nickel mining has been dominated economic production inNew Caledonia for more than a century. In 2006, it reached 94%of export values, providing 11% of GDP (Table 1). In 2000, 55% ofthe extracted ore was exported to Japan and Australia (i.e. 3.840millions of metric tons) while the remaining 45% was processedin the single local plant whose metal-processing capacity wasabout 60,000 mt of nickel. By 2024, the whole production shouldincrease threefold up to 195,000 mt. This goal should be reachedthrough two new plants: a pyrometallurgic plant with an annualproduction capacity of 60,000 tons in the north of the Mainlandand in the south a hydrometallurgic plant with the capacity toextract 64,000 mt of nickel and 5000 mt of cobalt from laterites.The ‘‘old” Nouméa plant should also increase its nickel productionfrom 60,000 to 75,000 mt over this period. Therefore, a huge finan-cial investment of USD 8.2 billion is required for this development3

(Lagadec et al., 2002; IEOM, 2008), and supposed to drive theeconomic independence of New Caledonia. The expected threefoldincrease in metal production should therefore ensure a sustainablesurplus of the balance of trade, which is quite an exceptional situa-tion for a small island state. The country’s laterite reserves (with alow nickel content: 1.5%) are extensive when compared with thegarnierite stocks (with a high nickel content: from 2% to 2.7%). Then,if the hydrometallurgical process to be implemented in the southernplant proves operational and profitable, new laterite-targetedmetal-processing units are likely to open over the next 30 years.Thus, in the short, medium and long-term, nickel constitutes thecentral axis of the New Caledonian economy, and its share of theGDP should show a sustained increase. Although some economistsdoubt the validity of such a mono-activity (Lagadec and Perret,2000), there is a general agreement among all political parties thatdevelopment should be pursued in this direction.

Marine products represent the second most important exportsector after nickel extraction. However, their contribution to theNew Caledonian economy is marginal (0.3% of GDP). Between

2600 and 3200 mt of shrimps and tuna are exported every year.In 2006, the aquaculture production of Litopenaeus stylirostrisshrimps reached 2384 mt, three quarters of which were mainlyexported to France (603 mt) and Japan (576 mt). About 654 ha ofponds contributed to this production. All of them are located onthe Mainland’s west coast where the coastal topography is favour-able to this activity (Fig. 2). In 1986, New Caledonia’s shrimp-farming potential was estimated at 5600 ha of convertible basins,2000 of which at reasonable costs. Thus, there is a significant mar-gin for growth in this sector, in particular in the Northern Province(Leguen and David, 1998a). Unlike in most countries of the Pacific,New Caledonian fishing activities remain lower than aquacultureand contribute very little to the balance of trade. Tuna fishingwas never managed to become properly established and remainshighly dependent on subsidies for constantly declining productionlevels since 2004 (Fig. 3). Lagoon and outer slope professional fish-ing is less vulnerable but its inputs remain insignificant. A total of308 mt were landed in 2005 as opposed to 2114 mt by the tunasector. As in the other Pacific Island states, a large part of thelagoon production slips through the official statistics (Dalzellet al., 1996), including recreational or subsistence fishing that bothinvolve several thousand households and boats. In 1995, the esti-mated household fish consumption was 1330 mt in the NorthernProvince (Labrosse et al., 2000) and in 2000 it was 180 mt onOuvéa, in the Loyalty Islands Province (Léopold et al., 2004). In2005, recreational fishing in the south-western coastal area wasestimated at 1140 mt of lagoon fish (Jollit et al., 2010). Accordingto these estimations and official statistics, lagoon catches in NewCaledonia may exceed 4000 mt a year. They sometimes play asignificant role in the food security of the coastal rural population.They can also provide the Kanak coastal communities with asignificant income. This is the case for sea cucumber and trochusfishing, the export values of which amounted to EUR 3.47 millionsfor 94 mt and EUR 804,500 for 198 mt, respectively in 2007 (IEOM,2008).

Despite the difficulty to go beyond 100,000 visitors per year,tourism is considered as a promising sector. Its contribution toGDP was about 4% in 2005. Most of hotel facilities of internationalstanding are located in Nouméa (Leguen and David, 1998b; IEOM,2008). However, this sector is growing thanks to the establishmentof many small hotels and rural family guest-houses. For the firsttime, in 2006, this kind of ecotourism and ethno-tourism orientedsector generated more jobs (1135) than the traditional tourismsector in Nouméa (1028).

Given the limited size of the New Caledonian population, thelocal market is far too tiny to sustain the hope of building an islandeconomy based on the substitution of imports (Poirine, 1995). Ashighlighted by Doumenge (1985), such an economic strategy

Table 1Ten years of New Caledonia’s exports of Nickel (IEOM, 2001, 2008).

Nickel Total of exports

Moist ore Metal products Total

103 tons 106 EUR tonsa 106 EUR 106 EUR % 106 EUR %

1998 4237 72.386 57.6 231.405 303.791 88.5 343.253 1001999 3790 71.925 56.57 257.878 329.803 87.6 376.698 1002000 4109 138.538 56.47 468.660 607.198 92.4 657.445 1002001 3697 71.155 56.80 378.810 450.365 89 505.708 1002002 3064.5 61.886 56.90 408.173 470.059 90 523.029 1002003 3385 79.979 60.77 552.183 632.162 91 693.503 1002004 3840.5 132.345 55.72 621.427 753.772 91 828.447 1002005 3359 124.644 58.39 655.492 780.136 89 875.190 1002006 3319 155.290 63.15 853.260 1008.55 94 1073.109 1002007 4053.3 368.754 57.43 1074.048 1442.802 96.3 1497.959 100

a Metal contents.

3 USD 3.8 billion for the northern plant, USD 3.2 billion for the southern plant andUSD 1.2 billion for the extension and modernization of the Nouméa plant.

G. David et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 61 (2010) 323–334 325


would require a minimum population of one million people. Thus,the country’s productive economy is essentially based on exports,in particular nickel exports. Agriculture and livestock breeding isthe only sector focused on the substitution of imports, but keepinga very low contribution to GDP (1.4%). However, given thehigh number of businesses involved in this sector (5586 in 2006)and the significance of subsistence agriculture among the Kanakcommunities, it plays a crucial role to prevent rural exodus.The productive sectors are structured to supply Nouméa andsurrounding areas, the country’s main market, even in the North-ern Province, whose population is mainly made up of supportersof the independence movement (David and Pillon, 1999a,b).

Commercial agriculture is mainly located on the coastal plain alongthe Mainland’s west coast, from the Mont Dore in the south to Bou-rail in the north (Fig. 1). The establishment of a metal-processingplant in the north of the country and the urban development thatwould accompany it (David et al., 1999) should induce new oppor-tunities for agricultural development in the Northern Province.

3. A lagoon under pressure

New Caledonia’s Mainland (16,360 km2) is surrounded by a1500 km long and 100–1000 m wide barrier reef. This is thelongest continuous barrier reef in the world, and the second

Fig. 2. Mining and aquaculture in New Caledonia.

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Years

Tons

Shrimp (farming)Bêche-de-merTrochusReef fishTuna

Fig. 3. Distribution of the official production of sea products in New Caledonia from 2002 to 2007 (fishing and shrimp-farming). The data of reef fishing in 2007 wasestimated.



biggest coral crown-barrier after the Australian Great Reef Barrier.Excluding the large and remote Chesterfield–Bellona open-seacomplex (13,700 km2), New Caledonian reef and lagoon formationstogether cover an area of approximately 22,200 km2 (14% and 86%,respectively) (Andréfouët et al., 2009). At its widest part, the la-goon reaches 50 km. Its depth varies from 25 m (western lagoon)to 40 m (eastern lagoon) with submarine valleys that can reach80 m deep. About 15,000 species have been listed in the marinebiodiversity assessment report, although many zones still remainunknown (Richer de Forges, 1998; Payri and Richer de Forges,2006).

Up to now, the New Caledonian lagoon has been little affectedby natural hazards like coral bleaching compared with many reefzones in the tropics (Wantiez, 2008; Wilkinson, 2004). The mainpressures come from human activities. They can be splitted intotwo categories:(i) direct pressures arising from the uses of themarine environment (fishing, leisure activities, coastal areamanagement) and indirect pressures which develops mainly atthe level of catchment basins, upstream of the terrestrial part ofthe coastal system but affecting the marine environment (Fig. 4).

3.1. Direct uses of marine resources and environment

In general, fishing and aquaculture have little impact in NewCaledonia. Coastal fishing grounds cover an area of almost21,000 km2, extending from the waterfront up to the reef barrier,of which 3000 km2 are made of coral reefs. The resulting exploita-tion on coral reef ecosystems would be about 0.2 mt of fish per km2

in average, which is very low compared with the other countries inthe region (Kronen and Bender, 2007; Dalzell, 1996). Indeed, theyield of reef fisheries studies all over the world ranges between

0.2 and 40 mt/year/km2 with a maximal sustainable yieldestimated at around 5 mt/year/km2 (Newton et al., 2007). How-ever, the geographical imbalance observed in the fishing pressurepredicts localised risks of overexploitation in the waters surround-ing larger urban centres (Chabanet et al., 2010; Jollit et al., 2010;Guillemot et al., 2009). Signs of fishing impact on the fish stockshave been pointed out since the 1960s (Loubens, 1975). Someregulatory measures have been implemented near Nouméa sincethe 1970s through the establishment of marine protected areas(Wantiez et al., 1997) together with rules for recreational and pro-fessional fishing. Obviously, the less mobile invertebrate resourcesgained some benefits from this process. But, strongly influenced byHong Kong market (Conand, 1986), the exploitation of sea cucum-bers (‘‘bêche-de-mer”) has been booming since 2006 in NewCaledonia. This fragile resource is now showing the same first signsas those that arose in other countries where the stocks finally col-lapsed (Bell et al., 2008). Thus, the significant impacts of coastalfishing on the resources remain spatially focused and/or on speciessought-after on the local or global market. The sector would notappear to feature today as a major factor in the degradation ofmarine biodiversity and environment.

In New Caledonia, most of the 19 aquaculture farms are builtdirectly on the ‘tannes’ (flat and bare zones) behind the mangrovescovering about 650 ha. Only the dikes for water pumping requirethe mangroves to be cut down. Shrimp-farming mainly impact onthe lagoon environment by discharging untreated wastewaters.These wastewaters are loaded with organic matter (most of thewaste is due to an inappropriate use of foodstuffs by farmersleading to a poor assimilation by animals), which increases signifi-cant nutrient inputs into the lagoon water. This process leads tohyper-sedimentation and very localised silting in the discharge

Cattle num-ber and pas-ture area increases

Nitrogen outputs

Phytosanitary products use increase

Phyto-sanitary products outputs

Chemical pollution of the lagoon

Steep slopes

Organic pollution of the lagoon

Terrigenous pollution of the lagoon

Recreational Fishing pressure

Professional Fishing pressure

Shrimp aqua-culture ponds

Nb houses increase

Heavy rainfalls

Sewage increase

Impermeable areas increase

Urban Run off

Population increase

Direct discharge into the lagoon

Dysfunc-tionning of sewage treatment plants

Rural Runoff

Local fish stock over exploitation

Fig. 4. Driving forces leading to the pollution of the lagoon.



zones along with a kind of eutrophication of the lagoon watersnear the aquaculture farms. Today, according to Dumas (2004),371 mt of food consumed in a farm produce 14 mt of nitrogen waste.However, the small size and number of the farms (17 farms of 38 hain average each), the extensive–semi-extensive nature of theoperations (mean yield: 3.5 t/year due to the low density of shrimps:from 15 to 20 shrimps/m2 with two crops per year) together withprohibiting chemical fertilizers and pesticides should reduce theimpacts of effluents on the coastal waters (Burford et al., 2003; Trottand Alongi, 2000). In any case, in a context of developing aquaculture(the production area is expected to double for the next decade), theconservation of the natural environment constitutes an essentialcondition for maintaining the brand image of the New Caledonianshrimps on the export markets (Andrier, 2004).

The management of the coastal zones for tourism (marinas),port-related and industrial uses constitutes a third source ofimpact. This is far more limited in spatial terms than the previousimpacts discussed. However, for deep-water ports and metal-processing plants, the consequences for the environment look soimportant that, without any doubt, they will induce major trans-formations or even extinction of the coral ecosystem. These majorrisks prompted the controversies surrounding two recent metal-processing plants projects, particularly in the southern part ofthe Mainland where the effluents should be discharged into thesea via a 26 km-long outfall sewer.

In Nouméa surroundings, the extension of residential districtsalong the waterfront and the construction of coastal roads thatinclude damming and deposition led to the extinction of 29% ofthe 800 ha mangroves area between 1960 and 1989, (Thollot andWantiez, 1994). St. Marie’s Bay in Nouméa represents a goodexample of a bay and reefs heavily impacted by siltation resultingfrom to the destruction of mangroves. In that case, all soils andsediments were carried by run-offs to build up within the bayand reach sometimes a 8 m-thick layer.

3.2. Human activities in watersheds

In New Caledonia, the watersheds induce two types of pressuredownstream: (a) an organic pollution that contributes in particularto eutrophication and, (b) a terrigenous pollution mostly influencedby mining activities (Fig. 4). These latter have the most significantand common impact on the New Caledonian unique biodiversityand habitats (Richer de Forges and Pascal, 2008). Indeed, nickelmining has been carried out in this territory for over 130 years.The first metal-processing plant was first established in 1877 inNouméa harbour. Since then, the open air mines have extendedover a large area of the Mainland, which led to the destruction ofnative vegetation, the stripping of the topsoils and finally leavinghuge scars on the mountain slopes. Many deposits of terrigenousmaterials swept along by run-offs to the hydrographic network,hence to the lagoon and reefs. Furthermore, the accumulation ofexcavated waste materials produced by mining and generallydeposited directly on steep slopes is under harsh erosive processeswhen heavy tropical rainfall events occur. In addition to regularrainy seasons, about eight tropical storms cross the Mainland everyyear. They can generate huge volumes of daily rainfall that comeclose to the world records (Danloux and Laganier, 1991). Over 40watersheds throughout New Caledonia and, indirectly, the down-stream estuaries and reefs are affected at various levels by miningactivities (Bird et al., 1984). The hyper-sedimentation of the coastalzones of the south-western lagoon comes primarly from the boomin ‘‘wild” mining activity that started just after World War II, andthat expanded up to the 1980s. For the Ouenghi watershed(245 km2), the solid inputs resulting from natural erosion and min-ing activity (about 1 million m3 over a period of 28 years) has ledthe delta to progress towards the lagoon by about 300–400 m along

a 3 km long front. This process made the coral reefs buried beneaththe sediments over a 100 ha area (Danloux, 1987; Danloux andLaganier, 1991). Within this context, reducing the erosive potentialof mining sites through their vegetation re-planting together withbetter controlling run-offs becomes a high priority. Hydro-seedingis beginning to be applied on the slopes.4 On the lower grounds,planting of fast growing indigenous species, such as Acacia Spirorbisand Casuarina collina, has proven successful (Jaffré et al., 1997). Thesespecies are also used to rehabilitate abandoned sites where a range oflocal plant species belonging to the mining grounds can also bere-planted (Jaffré and Pelletier, 1992). However, these sites remainnumerous and complete revegetation is a slow process. It is a hugetask and the public loans5 that could be allocated to it compete withother tasks or programs.

Compared with this mining erosion, the hydraulic erosion of thesoils resulting from inappropriate agricultural practices, overgraz-ing of animals (mainly deer and cattle) and bush fires6 appear tohave a much less significant impact. However, the high rainfall andthe steep slopes of many catchments basins facilitate erosion(Danloux and Laganier, 1991). The soil losses ranged from 50 mt/ha/year on the coastal plain to 1000 t/ha/year in the hills (Dumas,2004; Luneau, 2006; Printemps, 2007; Pascal et al., 2010).

While mining activity still remains the main source of pollution,organic pollution also comes from agriculture, livestock breedingand urbanisation. The use of fertilisers has continued to increasein recent years: from 2256 mt in 1983 to 4386 mt in 2002 (Dumas,2004). About 90% of the tonnage is spread within the SouthernProvince (on over one third of the farms), mainly on the west coast.While, one third is used for open vegetable crops, the other two-thirds are used for meadows (pastureland), mainly in farms over100 ha, where the nitrogen outputs remain very low (about 5 kg/ha/year; Dumas, 2004). The nitrogen outputs from cattle breeding,(about 217,000 animals) were estimated at 1245 mt per year inBoulouparis, Dumbéa and Païta areas (Fig. 1). However, whenrelated to the entire area of pasture lands (54,800 ha), the nitrogenoutputs remain low (23 kg/ha/year; Dumas, 2004). The use ofherbicides7 displays the same increasing pattern as fertilisers: from46.7 mt in 1992 to 165 mt in 2002. But very little is known abouttheir impact on the environment in New Caledonia as there is nomonitoring network or regular analysis of river waters.

Due to the low population density (12.5 inhabitants per km2),urban pollution is often considered as a marginal problem and littleattention is paid to sewage issues. In 1986, only 13% of domesticand industrial pollution was eliminated by the existing treatmentsystems in Nouméa district, whereas the remaining 83% weredirectly discharged into the lagoon. The situation in Nouméa cityis currently improving due to the implementation of a 20-yearsewage master plan (1989–2009). But out of the city, waterpollution remains a real issue in densely inhabited areas, oftenunder-equipped or without any installations. For Boulouparis,Dumbéa and Païta (an estimated population of 35,000 people in2003), the discharged nitrogen into the lagoon through sewagewas estimated at 181 mt/year (Dumas, 2004). In Dumbéa, manyresidential areas (condominions) are being built and the downtownshould be relocated closer the waterfront. Thus, the quality of thelagoon water will depend on how seriously the issue of sewage

4 This involves the spreading of a mixture of mulch, vegetal glue, nutrients,minerals and organic fertilizers and seeds using a pump mounted on a truck. Thistechnique is very expensive and constrained by the problem of seed supply: 5000seeds are needed per m2.

5 If the sites were established prior to 1975, their rehabilitation is the responsibilityof the French State. After this date, the New Caledonian Government is responsible.

6 Except mining, fires are the primary cause of environmental damage in NewCaledonia. In 2002, 47,300 ha of forest, savannas and scrubland burnt.

7 Herbicides account for 40% of these products, fungicides for 30% and insecticidesfor 20%.



and water treatment will be addressed, particularly in Dumbéa Baywhere conflicts recently emerged as oyster-farming tries to settle.

The expansion of the dwelling places and sewage is also onthe agenda in the Northern Province because the urban projectassociated to the nickel processing plant should lead to more than3500 new households in the Voh–Koné–Pouembout area (Fig. 1).Hence, the total population should reach 13,500 inhabitants withinthe next decade, which should raise new and crucial issues for thelagoon sustainability.

4. Environmental and territorial governance in New Caledonia

4.1. The institutions and their prerogatives

Although attached to France, New Caledonia is characterised byits specific institutional framework. This situation comes from theMatignon and Nouméa agreements. They were signed8 first to putan end to the quasi-insurrectional situation affecting the countryfrom 1985 to 1988 and, second, to prepare peacefully a referendumon the future status of New Caledonia, which should be heldbetween 2014 and 2019. Since the Organic Law (No. 99–209 onMarch 19th 1999), New Caledonia has been recognized as an ‘‘Over-seas Country” of France.9 This particular status gives New Caledoniaan extensive autonomy with regard to the French State with a majoroutcome: the non-applicability of the national laws in force withinMetropolitan France. Thus, the French Coastal Protection Agency(‘‘Conservatoire du Littoral et des Espaces lacustres”) cannot inter-vene in New Caledonia. The ‘‘1986 Coastline Act” (Loi Littorale) andthe usual management tools, such as SDAGE (Development, Planningand Management Scheme for Waters) and SMVM (Sea ImprovementScheme), cannot be used in New Caledonia. A similar situationprevails in relation to spatial planning. Except for Nouméa wherean Urban Master Plan has been in place since 1964 and forVoh–Koné–Pouembout in the northern Province (Fig. 1) where sucha plan (SDAU) is under development, there is no regulatory tool forspatial management at a municipal, inter-municipal or provinciallevel. The urbanisation of the municipalities and their sewage sys-tem is left to the good will of their mayors.

The second consequence of this autonomy status deals with thetransfer of many state competencies to the New Caledonian gov-ernment and the Provinces. Thus, since January 2000, the manage-ment of the ocean resources within the EEZ (Economic ExclusiveZone) is under the responsibility of the government of New Caledo-nia. The territorial sea and the maritime public domain depend onthe Provinces. Today, all competencies in relation to environmentalprotection and management of the coastal resources belong to theProvinces as long as the principle of the state’s sovereignty is notchallenged: this enables them to establish marine protected areas

(MPA). However, the French State keeps the authority to complywith all international conventions.10

In terms of spatial planning, the 1999 Organic Law containsprovisions for compiling two master documents. The first one,referred as the ‘‘Planning and Development Scheme of NewCaledonia”, aims at strengthening the re-balancing process of thecountry’s economy that was under way since the signature of theMatignon agreements (Blanchet, 1999). The second master docu-ment, referred as the ‘‘Mining Resources Improvement Scheme”,clearly underlines the importance of the mining sector for theeconomy of New Caledonia. It proposes five main actions: (1) to as-sess all mining resources, (2) a strategic plan to exploit them, (3) todefine the main principles to protect the environment whileexploiting the deposits, (4) a strategic plan for the industrial devel-opment associated to mining exploitation, (5) to adopt principlesgoverning the policy for the export of mining products (Martini,2006). The compilation of both these documents is still underway. Once published, they should apply to all regulatory measuresat the provincial and municipal levels, including those relating tothe management of the coastal environment.

4.2. The management of New Caledonia lagoon

Main fishing rules were implemented in 1967, 1974, and 1981at the country level. Quota, gear, and size restrictions applied inthe lagoon waters for professional and non-professional activities.They changed in 2006 in the Northern Province and in 2009 in theSouthern Province mainly to cope with the on-going increase ininformal uses (Jollit et al., 2010). Patrolling, enforcing and catchmonitoring are very weak. Up to now, marine protected areas(MPA) have then constituted a major tool to protect NewCaledonian southern lagoon from fishing. Today, they are indeedmainly located within the Southern Province (only one in theNorthern Province and none in the Loyalty island Province) andcover about 457 km2, i.e. over 2% of the lagoon area. Two typesof MPA are currently in operation (Table 2). The 18 special MPAwere established between 1981 and 2006 for about 285 km2. Theyinclude islets, reefs and bays mainly located close to Nouméa.Permanent or temporary fishing and collection closures of marinefauna and flora are enforced. The Yves Merlet integral no-take MPAcovers an area of 172 km2 within which any entry or activity hasbeen strictly forbidden since 1970.

The analysis of the existing written material for environmentalissues (Faberon, 1993; Martini, 2006) reveals difficulties to putmany rules into practice. The management of the New Caledoniancoast follows the same pattern. The primary problem concerns theobsolete nature of some regulations which are often inadequate forthe New Caledonian context because of their Metropolitan Frenchorigin. Except for the provincial resolutions on the reserves, marineparks and fishing, all regulations governing the lagoon depend onterritorial laws, which refer back to the period prior to theMatignon agreements. This territorial regulation will remain inforce as long as the Provinces do not modify it. The second problemconcerns the allocation of responsibilities between the governmentof New Caledonia, the Provinces and the French State. Thus, themarine fisheries regulation comes under the responsibility of theProvincial authorities while the State is in charge of monitoringand enforcement. The third problem deals with the lack of rulefor some topics (i.e. the environmental impact assessments). Theseproblems are rooted on two origins: (i) the non-applicability to

8 These agreements were signed by (a) the French State, (b) the representativesof the Kanak people, partisans of the independence movement and (c) theNew Caledonians of European origin, who were opposed to this statutory evolution.

9 The current institutions can be divided into five groups: (1) a deliberativeassembly – the Congress – comprising 54 members elected on the basis of universalsuffrage, (2) the government of New Caledonia, the executive body elected by theCongress, (3) three Provinces (South, North and Loyalty) which also have their ownlegislative assembly and an executive body, (4) the country’s 33 municipalities, (5)the French State, represented by the High Commissioner of the Republic. Theprovinces were created under the Matignon Agreements in 1988; the governmentand the territorial Congress were created under the Nouméa Agreements in 1998.This administrative and political framework is superimposed by an institutionalscheme, specific to the Kanak people (albeit established for a large part by the colonialregime in the late 19th century): (a) the tribe which is the basic social, political andeconomical structure. There are 337 registered tribes in New Caledonia (Arréghiniand Waniez, 1993), (b) the customary district which is the seat of the elders’ council,(c) the customary area which is often a linguistic area, (d) the customary senate, astructure created under the Organic Law of 1999, composed of representatives of thecustomary areas elected from among the big chiefs.

10 The most important are (a) the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, (b) theWashington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Floraand Fauna (CITES) which has been applicable to New Caledonia since 1983, (c) theInternational Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, i.e. the MarpolConvention.



New Caledonia of the regulatory tools in force in MetropolitanFrance (as referred to above); (ii) the absence of most coastalmanagement issues, such as the ‘‘sea-land tenure” relationships,in the Law following the Nouméa agreements (Orfila, 1992, 1996).

However, these difficulties should be resolved in the futurethrough the implementation of an environmental policy for themanagement of coastal areas, including sectorial strategies andaction plans. Such a policy is currently on progress in the NorthernProvince and will be carried out very soon on the SouthernProvince. This latter has already some experiences in this fieldthrough the draft strategy for the integrated coastal zone manage-ment of Nouméa and its surroundings (Holthus, 1995). Despite itsobvious relevance,11 this document embraces a too limited spatialscope. Given the intensity of the mining exploitation and the associ-ated hyper-sedimentation in the lagoon, entire catchment basinsshould be considered as functional units, particularly from thehydrological viewpoint. This point seems critical for any integratedcoastal management policy both in the Southern and NorthernProvinces.

5. Putting integrated coastal zone management into practice inNew Caledonia: an utopia or a new opportunity?

5.1. Historical background of ICZM and definition

The notion of ICZM is not new. It comes from a long processinitiated in the USA during the 1960s as an outcome of talks aboutthe future UNCLOS (Godschalk, 1992; Sorensen, 1997) to addressissues of population growth along their coasts. In 1972, the CoastalZone Management Act (CZMA) was a fundamental step to‘‘preserve, protect, develop, enhance, and restore where possible,the coastal resources”. In 1990, the Coastal Zone Enhancement

Program (CZE) was created to encourage all states to proposeand implement significant management programs. A furtheramendment was also added to push all states to develop programsin order to control no point source pollution from different sourcesand to decrease the loss of wetland and riparian zones. Soon afterthis US policy and embedded within the on-growing awareness fora sustainable development (1987, World Commission on Environ-ment and Development), the CZM concept emerged from the UNConference on Environment and Development (1992, Rio deJaneiro) and more specifically within the chapter 17 of Agenda21 that describes the process to be adopted. All countries with acoast that attended this conference agreed to put this approachin practice. They all endorsed that ICZM constitutes a relevant toolto aim at a sustainable development. The term itself also followed atransition: first called CZM, it turned into ICAM (Integrated CoastalAreas) to become later ICZM through a more internationally recog-nized term (Cicin-Sain and Knecht, 1998). The word ‘‘integrated”was added to display the acceptation by all if more than oneapproach were needed for an effective management. At last, anew extension was also proposed (IMarineCAM) to agree withthe Convention on Biological Diversity (Cicin-Sain and Knecht,1998).

As many other countries and territories, and based on this back-ground, the European Union also developed such a policy. From1996 to 1999, a EU demonstration programme was achievedthrough 35 demonstration projects. They provided the EU Commis-sion with arguments to make recommendations to all memberstates for adopting an ICZM Strategy (2002/413/EC)12 for theircoastal zones. Then, more or less, all European countries adopted thisapproach. After some recommendations of the CIADT (Comitéinterministériel à l’aménagement du territoire, 14-09-2003), Francelaunched several programs both on mainland and in some overseasterritories.

Among various definitions of ICZM, the most commonly quotedis the following: ICZM must be viewed as a dynamic process thatgathers governments and society, sciences and decision-makers,public and private interests in order to protect and develop coastalsystems and resources. This process aims at optimizing long-termchoices to favour resources and their reasonable use (Cicin-Sainand Knecht, 1998). Adopting an ICZM implies ipso facto to encom-pass different scales, spatial and temporal based on a set of princi-ples summarized by IOC (2005) by a need of intergovernmental,spatial, science management and international integration. Butusing these principles will be fine as long as they will be includedwithin all policies at national or relevant scale. If not, self-interestswill grow to jeopardize this process (McKenna et al., 2008).

5.2. Implementing integrated coastal zone management

An ICZM is a way to foster top-down and bottom-up exchangesto facilitate agreements and consensus among all stakeholders toreach a common vision of present problems and future solutions(Hénocque et al., 1997, 2001). To integrate means actually to agreeon a distribution of tradeoffs (good and bad) among stakeholders(Billé, 2006). This is not a zero-sum game and arbitrations areneeded. First, at the public policy level where two steps can be iden-tified: (a) the coordination of existing sectorial policies which is aneasy way to improve the current management, (b) the horizontaland territorial integration of goals and actions (Rey-Valette andRoussel, 2006). Second, at the local stakeholder level where thecoordination aims at facilitating the participative process by takingaccount local values, customs, priorities and needs. The final goal is

Table 2Marine protected areas (MPA) in New Caledonia (2008).

MPAcategory

Site Location Date ofestablishment

Area(km2)

Special MPA Casy Islet Prony Bay 1993 1.45Aiguille site Prony Bay 1993 0.13Grand Port sitea Prony Bay 2006 11.53Amédée Islet &Great Aboré Reef

Nouméa 1981 156.20

Maître Islet Nouméa 1981 7.65Bailly Islet Nouméa 1989 2.15Canard Islet Nouméa 1989 1.76Larégnère Islet Nouméa 1989 6.49Signal Islet Nouméa 1989 2.43Humbolt wreck Nouméa 1996 0.13Kuendu Point Nouméa 1998 0.55Dumbéa Chanela Nouméa 2006 5.21Tenia Islet La Foa 1998 10.04Ouano site La Foa 2004 36.69Roche Percée site &Turtles’ Bay

Bourail 1993 1.20

Verte Island Bourail 1993 0.84Poé site Bourail 1993 28.00Nékoro Bayb Poya 2000 12.60

Integral MPA Yves Merlet Reef Yaté 1970 172.00

Total 457.05

a Temporay MPA.b MPA located in the Northern Province.

11 This draft document displays the current environmental status of the coastalzone, divided into three units: (a) the coastline (land/sea interface); (b) the shallowwaters (max 20 m deep); and (c) a five-km-wide terrestrial strip, and recommends afew sites to put into sustainable use reserves or integral reserves with specificmanagement conditions for each types.

12 (2002/413/EC) Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of30 May 2002 concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Managementin Europe.



to build common representations in order to decrease potential orcurrent conflicts, to facilitate the implementation of regulationand to reinforce their efficiency. But, all stakeholders do not havethe same power in this game. The views and visions of ‘‘coastal peo-ple” change with time and theirs values also may be opposed. Theseasymetries among players must be recognized as soon as possibleto put them within a collective framework (Mermet et al., 2005).

If ICZM needs concertation, integration means more than con-certation. This is a long building process system by incremental in-puts from all stakeholders (Hénocque and Billé, 2009). This is oneof the most difficult tasks to achieve because short-term revisionsand adjustments do not fit the usual public policies procedures.Then, facing the high complexity of coastal zones, it may be anillusion to promote a unique management agency to implementan ICZM at a regional scale or bigger. The efficient attitude shouldbe to accept a fair but complex distribution of roles in order todevelop actions that should match the chosen strategies elaboratedin common. Then, ICZM as a continuous process also will follow theprinciples of an adaptive management (Walters, 1986; Gundersonand Holling, 2002; Billé, 2006). In definitive, to adopt an ICZMapproach, we must realize that we need to think ‘‘systems andnetworks” for coastal ecosystems and socio-systems interconnect-ing land and sea at different scales. As all systems, we must payattention to emerging interactions to consolidate them as localsystems of innovations (Amblard et al., 1996), which should bethe best bet to make coastal zones sustainable.

5.3. Is such a ICZM possible in New Caledonia?

Given the geographical, institutional, cultural and socialpatterns of the country, any ICZM plan of New Caledonia needs(a) to link the land and the sea at various spatial scales, (b) todesign tools which fit properly instead to apply the ICZM toolsusually used in metropolitan France.13 In this framework, the recent(July 2008) inscription of 15,808 km2 of New Caledonian reef andlagoon areas in the UNESCO World Heritage list provides very inter-esting perspectives in terms of ICZM and constitutes a crucial step toimprove the management of the reef resources in all Provinces.

The history of the inscription process is characteristic of the‘biodiversity conservation vs. economic development’ conflicts thathas been structured the public debate on sustainable developmentin New Caledonia for many years. The initial proposal to register apart of the New Caledonian lagoon in the World Heritage list wasan initiative of the ecologist NGO ‘‘Corail vivant” and originatedin 1999. The motivations of this NGO were, first, to raise awarenessof the New Caledonian population about the worrying perspectivesfacing the reef area due to the two metal-processing projects ofGoro Nickel in the south of Mainland and Falconbridge in theNorthern Province. Second, as Metropolitan France is a signatoryof the Convention on Biodiversity, the public authorities mustfacetheir responsibility in guaranteeing the conservation of New Cale-donia’s biodiversity at a time when a quasi-consensus reignedwithin the local political arena in relation to making the nickelindustry the exclusive focus for the future of the New Caledonianeconomy.

This first proposal for the inscription of the reef was rejected in2001 by the majority of the elected representatives, local decision-makers, and by the French government. Since then, all thingstogether supported the view that this file had definitely been‘‘buried”. On the one hand, the public authorities did not want to

have their development policy forced by the activism of an ecolo-gist NGO which was constantly opposed to any mining project inNew Caledonia. On the other hand, the feasibility of the projectsfor the two nickel plants both in the north and in the south, thatwere supposed to create over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs (i.e.a number equivalent to the total of unemployed people in NewCaledonia: IEOM, 2001), was still uncertain. Because the inscriptionin the World Heritage list was considered as irreconcilable with thedevelopment of the mining economy, the public authorities fearedalarming the investors. It is, therefore, remarkable that over aperiod of less than 3 years the views of the public and authoritiesoverturned. The file was reopened in 2005 and gained almost anuniversal support in New Caledonia by 2008. The substantiationof the Goro Nickel metal-processing project, the construction ofwhich started in 2005, provides an initial explanation for this turnaround. Based on this, it is unconceivable that the northern plantwill not be built. If so, it would represent a complete review ofthe process for re-balancing the country development plan whichwas initiated by the Matignon agreements and confirmed by theNouméa agreement, 10 years later. In this context, environmentalissues become not so critical when compared with the economicdevelopment as it used to be in 2000 when it could have promptedthe collapse of these metal-processing projects. On the contrary,many New Caledonian elected representatives have become moreaware that protecting environment is a key issue that should beaddressed at local level to develop the tourism sector.

A second explanation lies in the desire of France to succeed,with the inscription application to UNESCO list, in asserting itselfas an international leader in the coral reef protection domain.The official support of the State in this project was announced in2003 during a visit of President Chirac to New Caledonia, whichalso matched with the announcement of Metropolitan France ofits decision to fund an important action-research programme onthe coral reefs of the region (Coral Reef Initiatives for the SouthPacific).14

A third reason lies in the rapid support of the Kanak communi-ties for the World Heritage inscription project. Even if theirmotivations may have more to do with territoriality and the desirefor international recognition of their sovereignty over a part of thelagoon resources, of which they are the official ancestral guardians,rather than with the conservation of biodiversity, the generalsupport of the population for this development makes it one ofthe few current projects in New Caledonia involving a ‘‘communityof destiny”, as intended by the Nouméa agreements.

Six sites are involved in the UNESCO World Heritage scheme inNew Caledonia, two in each Province: i.e. the coastal area fromPoindimié to Poum and the large northern lagoon around BélepIslands in the Northern Province; the coastal areas of La Foa, Moin-dou and Bourail municipalities together and the great southernlagoon in the Southern Province; and Ouvéa and Beautemps-Beaupré islands in the Loyalty Province (Fig. 5).

Previously, the total area under marine protection in NewCaledonia was only 446 km2. The UNESCO listing extends it by afactor of 35. The area added to the World Heritage list alone is1.3 times larger than all the other French protected marine areas(12,000 km2). Apart from the preservation of the reef biodiversity,this inscription has prompted two major innovations in NewCaledonia.

First, two buffer zones adjacent to the World Heritage sites havebeen earmarked for sustainable development. Their total area is13,350 km2, i.e. over 80 % of the lagoon area added to WorldHeritage list. The first marine buffer zone covers 8206 km2, asignificant part of which belongs to the southern lagoon (Fig. 5).

13 These tools can be described as protocols that display steps and conditionsthrough (i) an institutional and general framework to manage a full land-sea territory(i.e. Territorial Coherence Scheme in France: SCOT), or (ii) more specific patterns forwatersheds or coastline (i.e. Water Management Scheme-SAGE, Sea DevelopmentScheme SMVM, MPA). 14 CRISP (http://www.crisponline.net).



It includes the coastal zone near the site of the Goro nickel process-ing plant in the south of Mainland and the entire 26 km-longoutfall sewer which will discharge some of the plant’s treatedwastewater to the sea. This classification as a buffer zone repre-sents a major constraint for the nickel industry, obliged to complywith a low toxicity level of wastes to be discharged into the sea.The second – terrestrial – buffer zone (5146 km2, i.e. more thanone quarter of the land above sea level in New Caledonia) coversa large section, northeast of Mainland and most of the catchmentbasins of La Foa, Moindou and Bourail municipalities, which arethe most affected by human activities in the Southern Province(except Nouméa and its surroundings). Their classification asbuffer zones constitutes an obvious opportunity for adopting anintegrated management of this coastal area.

Moreover, UNESCO requires an effective participative manage-ment scheme for all inhabited natural sites and their related bufferzones inscribed as World Heritage sites. Hence, the New Caledonianlagoon should be considered as a common good (in the sense that itbelongs to the whole community at large), and the bearer of alegacy value which all New Caledonia people and the institutionsrepresenting them would share. This natural capital must bepreserved for future generations. In this regard, it must be managedfor the ‘‘common good” (i.e. for the general interest) and this entails

the participation of all beneficiaries. Even if the motivations andpossible representations of what could constitute the patrimonywere different, this process already provided an opportunity forEuropean and Kanak populations to unite their energies around thisprocess. Indeed, for the Kanak people, the lagoon is primarily (a) aspace that generates economic resources which support theviability of the tribe, and (b) a territory of identity that turns marinespace and resources into a common patrimony on which the tribesassert their sovereignty. A consultative committee should becreated for each of the six sites listed. One already works in the LaFoa, Moindou and Bourail area. It may include representatives ofassociative, economic, social and customary sectors who must gobeyond their differences and learn how to work together, whichis an essential precondition for implementing any strategy for theintegrated management of coastal zones at local level. At the NewCaledonia level, the UNESCO sites coordination committee, whosecreation is compulsory once the heritage process is going on, willalso bring a valuable input to the ICZM process.

6. Conclusion

Although any integrated coastal zone management was neverconsidered in New Caledonia, the situation should improve in the

Fig. 5. Lagoons of New Caledonia: reef diversity and associated ecosystems.



years to come with the inscription in the UNESCO World Heritagelist of 15,808 km2 of coral ecosystems to which was added a bufferzone dedicated to sustainable development, including 5146 km2 ofcatchment basins upstream of the registered reefs and a 8206 km2-wide lagoon area.

UNESCO’s request that the selected sites and their marine andterrestrial buffer zones be managed on the basis of a participativeprocess paves the way of a future integrated coastal zone manage-ment based on the areas registered as part of this World Heritagesite. It fosters all the actors of the coastal areas and catchmentbasins affected by this status to organise themselves and definethe places and manner of a dialogue that must take place betweenthem, which constitutes a keystone of an ICZM process.

However, the question arises in relation to the future of areasthat do not belong to the World Heritage sites or their buffer zonesand their capacity to become the objects of an ICZM process. Thereis, indeed, a risk that these areas will be considered as beingoutside the environmental realm and being assigned instead toeconomic development – in particular mining – without anyconsideration for their ecological state. This would mean there-emergence of the traditional dichotomy between ecology anddevelopment in a spatial form (Richer de Forges and Pascal,2008). However, this spatial dichotomy cannot be permanent.The international community would have difficulties understand-ing how, within a distance of 50 km, one could move from aprotected environment to another area subject to heavy pollutionand anthropogenic degradation. We would wager, therefore, thatICZM represents the mandatory future of the New Caledoniancoastal areas, irrespective of the province involved. The extensivelegislative autonomy of the provinces and the lessons learned fromthe intergenerational and intercommunity dialogue generated bythe participative management of the listed sites will probablyconstitute the two pillars that will enable the implementation ofICZM in the coastal zones not included in the World Heritage list.

Finally, the inscription of the New Caledonian coral reefs on theUNESCO World Heritage List seems to be a fantastic opportunity toput people and institutions around a table to adopt an ICZMapproach. Most of the first ingredients look present. However,the challenging idea of building such a coastal partnership amongall parties will have to be based on a shared responsibility and trustas highlighted by Milligan and O’Riordan (2007). The French andNew Caledonian policies including the delicate issue of their futurecoastal governance will be now watched by the whole world.

Acknowledgements

This collaborative work was made possible thanks to a grant ofthe French National Program for Coastal Environment (PNEC). Itbenefited from numerous inputs of other scientific programmesthat have been conducted in New Caledonia since the 1970s.

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