13 Feb 2003

New Caledonian chiefs disappointed at failing Unesco bid

2:43 pm on 13 February 2003

A group of New Caledonia's traditional Kanak chiefs says it is disappointed that France has not backed a renewed bid to declare the territory's reef as a Unesco World Heritage site.

With a length of 16 hundred kilometers, the reef surrounding New Caledonia is the world's second largest and only surpassed by the Great Barrier Reef.

Last year, the bid was backed by the former French environment minister, Yves Cochet, but the new administration let a deadline for a new application with Unesco lapse.

A spokesman for the chiefs, Jean Wanabo, says it is up to the French government to make the bid but he has said the land and sea need to be protected for future generations.

New Caledonia's northern and Loyalty Islands provinces have been in favour of the protection plan but it has been opposed by the southern province and the anti-independence movement.

Opponents says the plan was politically motivated, which the chiefs say is not true.