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During the autumn month of October on Lifou, a ancient-style canoe was pushed into the turquoise waters – a seemingly minor event that signified a highly meaningful moment.

It was the first launch of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in living memory, an event that united the island’s three chiefly clans in a uncommon display of togetherness.

Seafarer and campaigner Aile Tikoure was behind the launch. For the past eight years, he has overseen a project that seeks to restore heritage canoe building in New Caledonia.

Numerous traditional boats have been built in an effort aimed at reconnecting Indigenous Kanak people with their maritime heritage. Tikoure states the boats also facilitate the “start of conversation” around ocean rights and environmental policies.

International Advocacy

This past July, he visited France and conferred with President Emmanuel Macron, pushing for marine policies developed alongside and by Indigenous communities that recognise their relationship with the sea.

“Previous generations always crossed the sea. We abandoned that practice for a while,” Tikoure explains. “Currently we’re rediscovering it again.”

Canoes hold significant historical meaning in New Caledonia. They once represented movement, trade and tribal partnerships across islands, but those traditions declined under foreign occupation and religious conversion efforts.

Cultural Reclamation

This mission commenced in 2016, when the New Caledonia cultural authorities was considering how to bring back ancestral boat-making techniques. Tikoure collaborated with the government and following a two-year period the boat building initiative – known as Kenu Waan project – was launched.

“The biggest challenge didn’t involve harvesting timber, it was gaining local support,” he says.

Program Successes

The Kenu Waan project aimed to restore traditional navigation techniques, educate new craftspeople and use canoe-making to strengthen cultural identity and island partnerships.

To date, the group has organized a showcase, published a book and enabled the construction or restoration of around 30 canoes – from the far south to Ponerihouen.

Resource Benefits

Unlike many other island territories where forest clearing has diminished wood resources, New Caledonia still has appropriate timber for constructing major boats.

“In other places, they often work with modern composites. Locally, we can still work with whole trees,” he states. “It makes a crucial distinction.”

The canoes built under the Kenu Waan Project integrate traditional boat forms with local sailing systems.

Educational Expansion

Since 2024, Tikoure has also been instructing navigation and ancestral craft methods at the University of New Caledonia.

“It’s the first time these topics are offered at advanced education. This isn’t academic – it’s something I’ve personally undertaken. I’ve crossed oceans on these vessels. I’ve experienced profound emotion while accomplishing this.”

Regional Collaboration

He voyaged with the members of the Uto ni Yalo, the Pacific vessel that journeyed to Tonga for the regional gathering in 2024.

“Throughout the region, through various islands, this represents a unified effort,” he says. “We’re taking back the ocean together.”

Political Engagement

In July, Tikoure visited the European location to present a “Traditional understanding of the marine environment” when he conferred with Macron and additional officials.

Before state and foreign officials, he advocated for cooperative sea policies based on local practices and community involvement.

“You have to involve local populations – especially those who live from fishing.”

Contemporary Evolution

Now, when navigators from across the Pacific – from Fiji, Micronesia and Aotearoa – arrive in Lifou, they examine vessels together, refine the construction and eventually sail side by side.

“It’s not about duplicating the ancient designs, we help them develop.”

Comprehensive Vision

In his view, educating sailors and supporting ecological regulations are interrelated.

“The core concept concerns how we involve people: who has the right to move across the sea, and who decides which activities take place in these waters? The canoe function as a means to start that conversation.”