Follow up on the AFRAN Forum 2025

On 21 and 22 October 2025, the annual AFRAN forum was held under the general theme “Evolving Pacific: shared pathways for a sustainable future”. The two-day event was organized at the Four Points Hotel in Sydney, with financial support and in partnership with the University of Sydney and the French Embassy in Australia.

On this occasion, the Forum fostered cross-sectoral dialogues, showcased collaborative research and innovation, with a particular focus on Pacific indigenous voices.  The discussions led to a new approach to addressing common regional challenges in the Pacific, in a changing world. An approach integrating traditional and local knowledge, with also more ambitions to scale up actions ensuring significant social, economic, and environmental impacts.

Through three discussion panels and three introductory addresses, the event addressed the themes of climate resilience in the Pacific for its communities, the role of scientific diplomacy as a means of connection and vector of trust between different cultures and practices, and the Pacific blue economy model, beyond resources and tourism, including sustainable practices and indigenous innovations.

• Forum impact

With the financial support of the Pacific Shared Knowledge Initiative of the French Embassy to Australia, a strategic representation allowing high-level engagement from the Pacific region and Australia was ensured. Thus, Ambassador Amenatave Yauvoli, Director of the Biodiversity and Conservation Programme at SPREP and Ambassador of Fiji to Indonesia, opened the Forum by speaking about the resilience of the Pacific. Mr. Jeremie Katidjo Monnier, Member of the Government of New Caledonia, in charge of the ecological transition and the Natural Park of the Coral Sea, participated in the Forum via a pre-recorded video. Also present were Dr. Eric Vidal, director of the IRD of New Caledonia, Prof. Pascal Marty, director of the Oceania office of the CNRS, Dr. Cedric Robillot, executive director of the coral reef restoration and adaptation program at the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Prof Quentin Hanich, Director of the Fisheries Governance Research Programme at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at Wollongong University, Mr Nicolas Gouletquer, Executive Director of Partnerships at CSIRO, as well as representatives of the French Agency of Development (AFD), the University of New Caledonia and many Australian universities. The speakers came from Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia.

The Forum attracted more than 60 participants from various backgrounds. We recorded mainly participants from universities and research organisations, but also representatives of industry, as well as other participants from private or cultural organisations.

In terms of feedback, we only received positive messages about the organization of the Forum and the discussions. Some participants volunteered to play a role in the association’s Pacific Hub. We also received feedback on new collaborations triggered by the Forum’s networking opportunities.

• Forum panels and keynotes

The Forum focused on themes of interest to the region, with 3 expert panels on changing socio-ecosystems and resilience in the Pacific, on science as a soft power to foster cooperation, and on sustainable transitions in blue economies. The environmental issues in the Pacific region, as well as levers for collaboration were highlighted with 3 keynote speeches.

The Forum consisted of a series of keynote speeches and panels bringing together experts from various sectors around discussions on Pacific climate resilience, the role of science diplomacy in building bridges, and the Pacific blue economy model. Each panel had between 5 and 6 participants, moderated by an expert in the field, with the aim of discovering different perspectives and bringing out directions towards which the region could evolve or transition.

The discussions have highlighted that the resilience of the Pacific has always been embedded in the culture of local populations. The notion of a limit on resources, and the strong connection to the environment are significant in an island environment, and are reflected in regional cultures, languages. Traditional knowledge and practices were valued by panellists: coming from the experience of generations, rooted in culture and practices, they reflect the knowledge of a specific place, a particular ecosystem at a local scale.

Projects including local communities in their governance, and reconciling traditional knowledge with modern scientific frameworks are the most resilient because they are built jointly with local populations and integrated into their culture, while relying on rigorous scientific data. These projects attract many researchers who play an important role in creating human relationships of trust among different cultures. Bio-cultural protocols, when they exist, play an important role to ensure that external partners respect the ethics, customary rights and rules of local communities.

However, the Pacific is subject to significant environmental pressures due to climate change, and if many actions to build its resilience are coordinated by regional bodies such as SPREP, the SPC or the PIURN, discussions focused on ways to improve the impacts of actions strengthening the resilience. Major international events such as UNOC or the COP lack concrete outcomes and binding decisions, but they are essential forums giving global importance to these issues. Finally, the discussion concluded with the idea of the need for a diversity of voices to address these global challenges, and encouragement for greater ambition, as nature and its services sustain all our economies, and are therefore worth trillions of dollars.

• Conclusion

The 2025 AFRAN Forum fulfilled its objective of attracting interest and participation from the research, innovation, and policy communities on the issue of Pacific resilience. These interventions emphasized the importance of inclusive, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral dialogues such as those of the AFRAN forum, to share knowledge and experience, link existing activities and create momentum, whether it is regional, bilateral or multilateral, in terms of research and innovation but also public policies, education or societal practices.