Land in New Caledonia: Pollution, Belonging, and Intellectual Property

In Kanak culture, belonging to a social group entitles an individual to use its commons and obliges him to renew them. Outsiders can be assimilated in the community, as long as they play by its rules of common management. Hostility towards mining corporations does not result from a priori postures, but from the fact that these companies fail to understand and respect the fact that property issues concern all of the groups concerned in the myths related to the land, and that exploitation could only be acceptable if it left no trace. When the UN attempts to protect a portion of land by declaring it a common treasure for mankind, aboriginal rights are not respected and conflicts with the State are reactivated. When they accept to share their land with outsiders, Kanak populations expect government and corporations alike to preserve the constant recreation of this land, which they have the duty to steward.