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This past October on Lifou, a double-hulled canoe was launched into the coastal lagoon – a seemingly minor event that represented a highly meaningful moment.

It was the inaugural voyage of a heritage boat on Lifou in generations, an occasion that united the island’s three chiefly clans in a rare show of unity.

Activist and sailor Aile Tikoure was behind the launch. For the previous eight-year period, he has overseen a program that aims to revive ancestral vessel construction in New Caledonia.

Many heritage vessels have been built in an effort intended to reunite native Kanak communities with their seafaring legacy. Tikoure says the boats also facilitate the “beginning of dialogue” around maritime entitlements and ecological regulations.

International Advocacy

This past July, he travelled to France and met President Emmanuel Macron, pushing for maritime regulations created in consultation with and by native populations that acknowledge their connection to the ocean.

“Our ancestors always navigated the ocean. We forgot that knowledge for a time,” Tikoure explains. “Currently we’re rediscovering it again.”

Heritage boats hold deep cultural importance in New Caledonia. They once stood for mobility, trade and clan alliances across islands, but those practices faded under foreign occupation and religious conversion efforts.

Tradition Revival

The initiative began in 2016, when the New Caledonia cultural authorities was considering how to restore ancestral boat-making techniques. Tikoure partnered with the authorities and following a two-year period the boat building initiative – known as Kenu Waan project – was established.

“The hardest part wasn’t wood collection, it was convincing people,” he notes.

Program Successes

The Kenu Waan project aimed to restore ancestral sailing methods, train young builders and use boat-building to reinforce traditional heritage and inter-island cooperation.

So far, the team has produced an exhibition, published a book and facilitated the creation or repair of around 30 canoes – from the southern region to the northern shoreline.

Resource Benefits

Unlike many other oceanic nations where forest clearing has reduced lumber availability, New Caledonia still has proper lumber for constructing major boats.

“There, they often use modern composites. Here, we can still carve solid logs,” he states. “This creates all the difference.”

The vessels constructed under the program combine traditional boat forms with local sailing systems.

Teaching Development

Beginning this year, Tikoure has also been educating students in maritime travel and ancestral craft methods at the local university.

“It’s the first time these topics are offered at master’s level. It goes beyond textbooks – this is knowledge I’ve personally undertaken. I’ve crossed oceans on these vessels. I’ve cried tears of joy while accomplishing this.”

Regional Collaboration

He voyaged with the members of the traditional boat, the Pacific vessel that traveled to Tonga for the oceanic conference in 2024.

“Throughout the region, through various islands, we’re part of a collective initiative,” he says. “We’re restoring the maritime heritage together.”

Policy Advocacy

This past July, Tikoure journeyed to the French city to introduce a “Traditional understanding of the ocean” when he met with Macron and other leaders.

In front of government and overseas representatives, he argued for shared maritime governance based on Kanak custom and participation.

“You have to involve local populations – most importantly people dependent on marine resources.”

Current Development

Now, when mariners from throughout the region – from the Fijian islands, Micronesia and Aotearoa – arrive in Lifou, they analyze boats in cooperation, refine the construction and ultimately voyage together.

“We don’t just copy the traditional forms, we enable their progression.”

Holistic Approach

In his view, teaching navigation and advocating environmental policy are linked.

“It’s all about community participation: who is entitled to move across the sea, and what authority governs what happens there? The canoe function as a means to start that conversation.”