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This past October on Lifou island, a ancient-style canoe was pushed into the coastal lagoon – a seemingly minor event that represented a deeply symbolic moment.

It was the maiden journey of a traditional canoe on Lifou in generations, an gathering that brought together the island’s three chiefly clans in a uncommon display of togetherness.

Mariner and advocate Aile Tikoure was the driving force behind the launch. For the last eight years, he has led a program that seeks to restore traditional boat making in New Caledonia.

Many heritage vessels have been crafted in an project designed to reconnect native Kanak communities with their oceanic traditions. Tikoure says the boats also facilitate the “beginning of dialogue” around maritime entitlements and ecological regulations.

International Advocacy

During the summer month of July, he journeyed to France and conferred with President Emmanuel Macron, calling for ocean governance shaped with and by Indigenous communities that acknowledge their relationship with the sea.

“Forefathers always traveled by water. We abandoned that practice for a while,” Tikoure explains. “Now we’re finding it again.”

Traditional vessels hold significant historical importance in New Caledonia. They once stood for movement, trade and family cooperations across islands, but those traditions declined under colonisation and missionary influences.

Cultural Reclamation

The initiative commenced in 2016, when the New Caledonia government’s culture department was looking at how to bring back traditional canoe-building skills. Tikoure worked with the government and two years later the boat building initiative – known as Project Kenu Waan – was established.

“The biggest challenge didn’t involve cutting down trees, it was convincing people,” he says.

Project Achievements

The Kenu Waan project aimed to restore traditional navigation techniques, mentor apprentice constructors and use vessel construction to strengthen traditional heritage and inter-island cooperation.

Up to now, the group has created a display, issued a volume and supported the construction or restoration of approximately thirty vessels – from the far south to Ponerihouen.

Resource Benefits

Unlike many other island territories where forest clearing has limited lumber availability, New Caledonia still has suitable wood for crafting substantial vessels.

“There, they often employ synthetic materials. In our location, we can still carve solid logs,” he states. “It makes a significant advantage.”

The vessels constructed under the initiative combine traditional boat forms with regional navigation methods.

Teaching Development

Starting recently, Tikoure has also been instructing maritime travel and ancestral craft methods at the educational institution.

“For the first time ever this knowledge are included at master’s level. This isn’t academic – this is knowledge I’ve personally undertaken. I’ve sailed vast distances on these canoes. I’ve experienced profound emotion doing it.”

Island Cooperation

He voyaged with the crew of the Uto ni Yalo, the heritage craft that traveled to Tonga for the Pacific Islands Forum in 2024.

“Throughout the region, including our location, it’s the same movement,” he says. “We’re taking back the sea collectively.”

Governance Efforts

This past July, Tikoure visited Nice, France to introduce a “Indigenous perspective of the marine environment” when he met with Macron and government representatives.

Addressing official and foreign officials, he argued for collaborative ocean management based on Indigenous traditions and community involvement.

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

Current Development

Now, when navigators from throughout the region – from the Fijian islands, the Micronesian region and New Zealand – visit Lifou, they examine vessels together, refine the construction and eventually voyage together.

“We’re not simply replicating the ancient designs, we help them develop.”

Comprehensive Vision

According to Tikoure, teaching navigation and advocating environmental policy are linked.

“The core concept concerns how we involve people: who has the right to navigate marine territories, and who decides which activities take place there? Traditional vessels serve as a method to start that conversation.”