France’s flagship regional projects in the Pacific
In late July 2023, the historic visit of the President of the Republic to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea highlighted the strengthened commitment of France in the region. President Emmanuel Macron stressed our investment in the climate, the increase of our development assistance and the strengthening of our diplomatic network, in particular with the opening of an Embassy in Samoa.
Environmental cooperation
The Pacific is home to the richest and most fragile biodiversity reserves on the planet. Almost half of critical biodiversity areas are in this region, where deforestation and the overexploitation of soils and oceans is reaching critical levels. Papua New Guinea alone accounts for between 6 and 7% of the world’s biodiversity, even though the country represents less than 1% of the earth’s surface. Three-quarters of its surface area (all of which is equal to 85% of mainland France) is covered in forest.
Working with its partners, France is taking action to promote the protection of oceans and forests, and the understanding of links between biodiversity and public health risks. Protecting the oceans is essential for Pacific countries that depend on marine resources.
Spotlight on the Kiwa Initiative
The Kiwa Initiative is an example of this. With a budget today of €77 million, and launched by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in March 2020, it is the fruit of an unprecedented partnership initiated by France and the European Union and also involving Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It seeks to strengthen the resilience of ecosystems, economies and communities of the Pacific to the effects of climate change by supporting projects that focus on nature-based solutions through subsidies and technical assistance.
18 States and territories of the Pacific are eligible for this fund, including New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. In June 2025, 26 projects were underway in 17 of them.
France is the leading contributor with €40 million.
The Kiwa Initiative works on the principle of calls for projects. The projects are selected by voting members, including the donors and representatives of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. It helps finance both local projects led by local associations and more large-scale regional projects (involving at least two eligible States or territories). It seeks to increase the resilience of populations and ecosystems..
Spotlight on the CREWS Initiative
France launched another regional project during COP21 in 2015 : the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative. This initiative aims to develop early warning systems for climate disasters in 74 vulnerable States. It allows small island developing States, and all those which are in the Pacific, to strengthen their hydrometeorological forecast capabilities and risk management services. Today, CREWS brings together 9 contributing States and several observers including the United States. The initial aim of CREWS to raise $100 million for warning systems was reached in 2022 ($35 million contributed by France).
In 2023, President Macron and Prime Minister James Marape announced the launch of a “country package” at COP28, an initiative endorsed with €100 million from various donors to finance the preservation of the forest of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The projects in this package mobilize donors, field actors and local government bodies for the effective and lasting preservation of forests which are home to between 6 and 7% of the world’s biodiversity.
Emergency humanitarian assistance and natural disaster response
In the face of rising and worsening natural disasters caused by climate change, emergency humanitarian response is a regional priority for action for France. For the operational aspects, France is supported by the FRANZ partnership, which has mobilized France, Australia, and New Zealand around coordinated operations for 30 years. The last operation was conducted in response to the earthquake that struck Vanuatu on 17 December 2024 with reconnaissance and supply delivery flights operated by the New Caledonian Armed Forces (FANC) from Nouméa.
In the last three years, nearly €3 million have been used through this mechanism for French humanitarian assistance in the Pacific.
France also invests in anticipation actions with its participation in the Pacific Humanitarian Warehousing Program (PHWP), a programme to build up stocks of pre-positioned humanitarian supplies in each of the Pacific Islands (France is contributing €1 million per year for eight years). This multi-donor project is implemented with the Pacific Community.
The AFD is investing €4 million in the opening in Nouméa by the French Red Cross of a platform that will strengthen networking between national Red Cross Societies in the Pacific and train civil society in first aid and disaster management.
Regional security
During his visit to the region in July 2023, President Macron announced the launch of a Pacific Academy, which would provide the States of the Pacific with a large range of training programmes that cover a significant portion of the security field : civilian protection, maritime security, public order, and defence.
Its first training programmes started in 2024 with the dispatching of an operational detachment from the armed forces to the peacekeeping operations training centre in Blackrock, Fiji. Activities are based in Nouméa, but the Academy can approve training programmes given elsewhere by our operators to better coordinate with other regional initiatives.
The organization of a regional coastguards’ seminar in Papeete, French Polynesia, and a part of the International Session on the Indo-Pacific organized by the Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN) in Paris are also approved by the Pacific Academy.
State action at sea
State action at sea covers all public interest missions implemented by State services in its maritime area. It is centred around three areas :
- ensuring the safety of people and activities at sea ;
- protecting the maritime environment and preserving resources ;
- cracking down on illegal activities.
Through its territories, the French exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Pacific covers 9 million km², and is a significant resource for the 600,000 inhabitants of the French territories in the Pacific.
State action at sea is therefore a matter of sovereignty, including the protection of food resources, the defence of territorial, economic and environmental integrity, particularly for the fishery resources that part of the regional economy depends on.
As small island States are not often equipped with the resources needed for maritime surveillance, a cooperation mechanism was put in place so that States with naval capabilities carry out patrols to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for the benefit of these States. France thus operates alongside Australia, New Zealand and the United States in the framework of Pacific Quad. In close cooperation with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia (FAPF) and in New Caledonia (FANC) conduct patrols, the latest major operation being Rai Balang, which lasted for two weeks, in an area of 13.3 million km² with 11 island States.
In order to work more closely with the island States, the French Navy is working on enabling officers from local government bodies to board during these patrols. This was announced by the Minister for the Armed Forces at the South Pacific Defence Ministers Meeting held in Nouméa in December 2023.
Alongside the EU, France actively supports the deployment in the Pacific of the Critical Maritime Routes Indo-Pacific (CRIMARIO) programme, announced at the EU-Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum held on 22 February 2022. This tool for managing the maritime area and information ensures the security of the maritime area, in particular against illegal fishing, as it provides a regional platform for sharing information and managing events at sea.
Human exchanges
During his trip around the Pacific region in July 2023, President Macron announced the launch of an exchange programme between Oceanian and French higher education and research establishments in the Pacific. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is setting up an intraregional mobility programme that involves both the universities of New Caledonia and French Polynesia as well as research institutes in Nouméa and Papeete.
The programme will finance incoming and outgoing mobility grants for students, teachers, administrative staff and researchers between our territories and Pacific island States. The aim is to assert the role of our research and higher education institutions and the Francophonie while strengthening regional integration and the attractiveness of our overseas territories in the Pacific.
Updated : July 2025