Written by Soizic Fleury, Ocean Youth project facilitator, Merveille NC founder
Seventeen-year-old Maël Baillif and teenagers from across New Caledonia teamed up last year to tell government decision-makers why they feel it’s important to protect the area’s majestic marine environment.
As the programme facilitator, I coached Maël and 21 other students from 12 schools as they participated in a series of workshops aimed at giving a voice to New Caledonian youths who are passionate about preserving marine spaces around the South Pacific archipelago they call home.
“The many activities we did enabled me to see the different aspects of the protection we owe to the oceans and the harmful elements that impact them, and to discover all the players involved, which wasn't initially obvious to me,” Maël said.
Through the programme—called Master Océan Jeunesse 30x30, or Master Ocean Youth 30x30, which grew out of an adult version of the program the year before—the students, ages 15 through 17, attended sessions at their respective schools from April through November and then came together for a collective capstone workshop. I was impressed by their capacity to work collectively and their dedication to protecting the ocean that has been central to their upbringing.
During the workshops—co-organised by The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project and New Caledonia’s Academic Delegation for Education and Sustainable Development—the students learned about “30x30,” a reference to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a global agreement under which nations have committed to protecting at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030.
The workshop discussions included the New Caledonia government’s recent decision to, starting in 2024, highly protect 10% of the 1.3 million-square-kilometre Natural Park of the Coral Sea, which encompasses all of New Caledonia’s waters.
The Natural Park of the Coral Sea provides habitat for sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, whales, and seabirds and houses important ecosystems such as coral reefs, seamounts, a deep-sea trench, and other sites that are critical for wildlife migration and breeding. The park also includes areas that are culturally important to New Caledonia’s communities—for example, sites where local Kanak tradition says the souls of the deceased rest and places that provide habitat for whale and shark species that are sacred to local Kanak communities.
The government is now looking at increasing the amount of highly protected areas from 10% to 30% of the park—meeting New Caledonia’s 30x30 mark, a goal that the young people participating in Master Océan Jeunesse strongly support.
“For me, it's important to protect the oceans because, on the one hand, they are part of the carbon cycle,” Maël said. “Secondly, they are an important source of food.”
After learning about 30x30, the students did research, shared their personal visions of what 30x30 means for New Caledonia and, guided by teachers and other experts, crafted recommendations to share with New Caledonian policymakers. They also created visual components to accompany their recommendations, ranging from videos, to drawings and comics, to animations.
The teens centred their 30x30 visions on four themes: protect, respect, integrate, and act for the future. Maël’s group focused on “protect,” with a view toward preserving biodiversity. For example, one of her team’s recommendations for the government was to “protect the natural heritage of the Natural Park of the Coral Sea by taking a precautionary approach to keeping the park in as good a condition as possible and preserving it from threats.”
The teens gathered for their capstone workshop in November in the capital city of Nouméa at the Southern Province Centre of Nautical Activities to work together on final presentations. They then presented to representatives of New Caledonia’s government, customary senate, and provinces who visited the final workshop to receive the students’ recommendations for how and why New Caledonia must conserve its marine treasures for this and future generations.
“These activities enabled me to meet young people from all over the country, with whom I quickly formed strong bonds,” Maël said.
Interview with student Maël Bailif © Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy
The students hope their recommendations will influence how the government shapes the future management of the Natural Park of the Coral Sea, including later this year when the government reviews the park’s management plans during a renewal process.
These young people are our next generation of New Caledonian leaders. Seeing them so inventive, creative, and exemplary in their commitment to advocate for ocean conservation brought me hope for the future of our precious marine spaces.
“The oceans are magnificent places teeming with life, and we must protect them,” Maël said.
This story is provided by the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, which works with partners to advance the global 30x30 goal in collaboration with artisanal fishers and local communities for the benefit of future generations.
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