Gold and uranium boost Namibia’s tax revenue after diamond prices plunge

Reuters | December 17, 2025 

Parliament Building in Windhoek, Namibia. Stock image.

Namibia’s diamond revenue has been surpassed by income from other minerals for the first time, the country’s mining chamber said, with record gold prices and higher uranium output helping to offset the impact of weak gem prices.

Diamond income has traditionally boosted Namibia’s state coffers, accounting for about 30% of export earnings. But the natural diamond industry has faced a price decline since mid-2022, largely owing to growing popularity of lab-grown gems.

Tax revenue from diamonds in the six months to September was down 79% year on year, after falling 49% in the previous financial year, according to the country’s tax collector.

“As a result, non-diamond mineral revenues have surpassed diamond revenues for the first time, reinforcing a structural shift towards a more diversified and resilient mining revenue base,” the Chamber of Mines of Namibia said in its report for October, published late on Tuesday.

Tax revenue from other minerals, mainly uranium and gold, rose to 2.87 billion Namibian dollars ($171.09 million) in the past financial year, almost double the original budget estimate. It is expected to rise further to N$3.54 billion in the current financial year.

Non-diamond royalty income also surpassed expectations, rising from a budgeted N$747.8 million to N$1.03 billion in the past financial year and maintaining that trend in the current year.

Namibia’s two gold mines, Navachab and B2Gold’s Otjikoto mine, benefited from the bullion price rally that sent spot prices as high as $4,380 an ounce in October, up about 60% from a year earlier.

Production of uranium, which is used in nuclear technologies, was up 22% year on year in the first 10 months of 2025. Namibia is the world’s third-largest uranium producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada.

($1 = 16.7745 Namibian dollars)

(By Nyasha Nyaungwa; Editing by Nelson Banya and David Goodman)

Zimbabwe scraps gold royalty hike, sets higher threshold for windfall tax

Reuters | December 17, 2025 | 

Caledonia Mining is weighing its options on how best to press the Bilboes gold mine in Zimbabwe back into service. Credit: Caledonia Mining

Zimbabwe has reversed plans to double its gold royalty rate to 10%, a new 2026 budget bill showed on Wednesday, following protests by miners and industry groups.

A royalty rate of 5% would continue to apply for gold prices between $1,200 and $5,000 per ounce, according to the revised budget bill, which was approved by Zimbabwe’s lower parliament chamber in the early hours of Wednesday following lengthy debate.

In his budget speech last month, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube had proposed doubling the gold royalty rate to 10% for gold sold above $2,501 an ounce.

During the late-night budget debate, however, he told lawmakers that a 10% royalty rate would now only apply if the bullion price topped $5,000 an ounce.

Small-scale miners would continue to pay lower royalty rates of up to 2%, he added.

Large-scale miners such as Caledonia Mining Plc have warned that the proposed royalty hike would impact profitability at its 80,000 ounce-per-year Blanket mine in southern Zimbabwe.

Caledonia said the royalty increase and other changes to Zimbabwe’s fiscal regime would also undermine plans to develop its $500 million Bilboes project, which is set to be Zimbabwe’s biggest gold mine.

The southern African nation produced 42 metric tons of gold in the 11 months to November 2025, a new peak, outpacing the previous record of 37 metric tons in 2024.

Industry groups had warned that the government’s royalty hike would hurt efforts to attract investment and reposition Zimbabwe among Africa’s top gold producers.

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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Macron to relaunch New Caledonia talks in January as Bougival agreement falters

France’s efforts to steer New Caledonia towards a new institutional settlement are entering a sensitive new phase. With the Bougival agreement facing delays, political pushback and lingering doubts over consensus, President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to relaunch talks with local leaders in the new year.


Issued on: 16/12/2025 -RFI

Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Tein (in C with a blue polo shirt) stands in respect as the FLNKS flag during the congress of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), New Caledonia's main pro-independence movement, in Ponerihouen, in the French overseas collectivity of New Caledonia, on 6 December 2025. AFP - DELPHINE MAYEUR

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced he will meet New Caledonian elected officials on 16 January in a bid to “continue the dialogue” on the Pacific archipelago’s institutional future and to “provide clarification on the Bougival agreement” signed last July.

In a letter to local elected representatives, President Macron said the meeting would build on talks held earlier this year and aim to reopen political discussion at a time when the agreement’s future looks increasingly uncertain.

“Following the discussions initiated at the Summit for the Future of New Caledonia held on 2 July at the Élysée Palace, in order to clarify the 12 July agreement, I have decided to organize a new forum for exchange to continue the dialogue,” the president wrote.

He added that this “progress report, aimed at opening up new political perspectives in which I would like you to participate,” would take place on 16 January with “New Caledonian elected officials”.

Fragile timetable and mounting scepticism

The announcement comes as momentum around the Bougival agreement appears to be faltering.

A bill to organise an early consultation of New Caledonians on the text will not, after all, be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, as had initially been planned. The government spokesperson confirmed the delay on Monday, underlining how fragile the timetable has become.

At the same time, questions remain about the precise format and objectives of the meeting proposed by the president – and about whether it could reopen hard-fought compromises.

“Everyone understands that they are going to try to get us to renegotiate, to reopen the Bougival agreement to allow the FLNKS to come forward with its demands,” said New Caledonian MP Nicolas Metzdorf on the NC La 1ère channel. He also regretted that “the fear of possible new violence in New Caledonia … is guiding political action” in Paris.

From the loyalist camp, scepticism is equally pronounced. The Loyalists – a centrist and anti-independence right-wing alliance – have reportedly “made all the concessions they could” and would refuse any attempt to call into question the political balance struck by the agreement.

New Caledonia independence bloc rejects deal giving powers but no referendum

Searching for consensus

Signed in July between the French government, the independence movement and the anti-independence movement, the draft Bougival agreement sets out plans for the creation of a New Caledonian state within the French Constitution.

However, the text suffered a major setback in August when it was rejected by the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), the main pro-independence coalition.

Despite this rejection, a majority of New Caledonia’s political forces continue to support the agreement in principle.

Several of them argue, however, that amendments are necessary in order to secure the broad consensus they see as essential for the deal to be implemented.

Against this backdrop, the French government has been searching for ways to revive a stalled process in an archipelago still scarred by deadly violence in the spring of 2024. Those unrests left 14 people dead and severely weakened New Caledonia’s economy.

In that context, Overseas Minister Naïma Moutchou floated the idea of organising an “early citizen consultation” in March 2026, ahead of the adoption of the constitutional law required to bring the agreement into force. The proposal was intended to re-engage the population and restore political momentum.

Yet even this prospect has drawn reservations, including from some supporters of Bougival. The National Union for Independence (UNI) made its backing conditional on amendments to the text.

Meanwhile, the Caledonian Congress, asked for its opinion on 8 December, confirmed that the bill was deadlocked, with 19 votes in favour, 14 against and 19 abstentions.

The doubts also reached Paris by early December, when the Socialist Party urged Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to “suspend” the early consultation, arguing that it exposed a “lack of real consensus” around the agreement and made adoption of the bill unlikely.

(with newswires)

AU

Barrick to pay Mali $430M to settle mine dispute

Staff Writer | November 24, 2025 | 

Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex. Credit: Barrick

Barrick Mining (NYSE: B; TSX: ABX) is said to have agreed to pay 244 billion CFA francs ($430 million) in its settlement with Mali, as part of the company’s deal to end a two-year dispute that shuttered the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The payment would be done within six days of signing the agreement with Mali’s government. Another 50-billion CFA francs will come via VAT-credit offsets, while an installment of the same size was already paid last year, the report said.

The news comes as Barrick reached an agreement with Mali’s government to end their dispute, removing uncertainty surrounding the operation of its Loulo-Gounkoto complex in the African nation. Its stock surged.

In a press release Monday, the Toronto-based gold miner confirmed that the Malian state has dropped all charges against the company and its affiliates and will return operational control of Loulo-Gounkoto to Barrick. The Mali government will also arrange for the release of four Barrick employees that have been detained for a year.

In exchange, Barrick said it will withdraw its arbitration case against Mali, which it brought to the World Bank dispute tribunal in December after Mali’s junta-led government blocked gold shipments from the Loulo-Gounkoto site.

The announcement follows an earlier report by Reuters that the two sides had reached a verbal agreement to resolve their issues.

The agreement officially ends a protracted two-year fight over one of Africa’s largest mining assets. Last year, Loulo-Gounkoto produced 723,000 oz. of gold, ranking it amongst the top 10 producers globally. Ownership of the mine complex is held 80% by Barrick, with Mali retaining 20%.

Analysts at Jefferies said the mine restart and ramp-up could take around six to 12 months.

Shares of Barrick soared to a new 52-week high of $39.02 in New York after announcing the dispute resolution. By noon ET, it traded at $38.76 apiece with a market capitalization of nearly $62 billion. Year to date, the stock has gained over 143%, outperforming that of rivals Newmont (NYSE: NEM; TSX: TGT) and Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE, TSX: AEM).

The dispute dates back to 2023 when Mali imposed a new mining code and demanded millions from Barrick in economic benefits and taxes. The situation escalated earlier this year when the Malian state seized Barrick’s gold, forcing it to suspend operations, and later placed it under provisional administration.

Amid the Malian dispute, Barrick had to write off $1 billion in revenue from the Malian operation and experience a significant leadership change with the departure of former CEO Mark Bristow, who played an instrumental role in the development of Loulo-Gounkoto.

Caledonia bets big on Bilboes as Zimbabwe’s next major gold mine

Staff Writer | November 25, 2025 | 

Bilboes gold project in Zimbabwe. (Image courtesy of Caledonia Mining.)

Caledonia Mining (LON: CMCL) has approved full development of its Bilboes gold project in Zimbabwe after a feasibility study projected strong returns for what is expected to become the country’s largest gold mine.

The company, which acquired Bilboes in 2023, estimates peak funding at $484 million and total capital costs at $584 million. The study identified a single-phase development plan as the most economic path forward. Caledonia plans to finance construction mainly through debt and equity generated from its Blanket gold mine in Matabeleland South.

Chief executive Mark Learmonth said the decision marks a milestone for a project “decades in the making,” adding that Bilboes could help Zimbabwe reclaim its position as a leading gold producer.

The project covers 2,731.6 hectares in Matabeleland North, about 80km north of Bulawayo. Proven and probable reserves stand at 1.75 million ounces of gold grading 2.26g/t. Measured and indicated resources, excluding reserves, total 532,000oz at 1.37g/t, while inferred resources are estimated at 984,000 ounces at 1.62g/t.

Online by late 2028

Bilboes will use Metso’s BIOX technology to process refractory ore by oxidizing sulphide minerals and improving gold recovery. The feasibility study outlines plant throughput of 240,000 tonnes per month during the first six years, tapering to 180,000 tonnes per month for the remainder of the nearly 11-year mine life. Metallurgical recovery is forecast to range from 83.6% to 88.9%.

Caledonia expects output to begin in late 2028, ramping up to roughly 200,000 ounces in 2029. Over the life of the mine, Bilboes is projected to produce 1.55 million ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,061 per ounce.

Supported by investors including Allan Gray and BlackRock, Caledonia plans a phased financing strategy designed to accelerate development while limiting equity issuance to protect the project’s net present value per share.

Bolivia plans gold bank to bring order to unruly mining boom

Bloomberg News | November 21, 2025 | 

Credit: Dan Lundberg | Flickr, under Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 2.0.

Bolivia’s new government plans to create a gold bank with public and private capital to ensure sustainable mining and marketing practices, Finance Minister José Gabriel Espinoza said.

The administration of centrist President Rodrigo Paz, who took office this month following two decades of socialist rule, plans to continue state buying of locally mined gold but with different mechanisms from those in place since 2023, Espinoza said in an interview.

The new gold bank would help improve oversight, he said, without offering details on how it would operate.

“We’re going to create the gold bank, and what we need to do is set mechanisms that ensure traceability, development of the gold sector and respect for environmental standards,” Espinoza said.

Bolivia initiated a central bank gold purchasing program in mid-2023, raising billions of dollars to help pay back international bondholders amid a hard currency crisis exacerbated by fuel subsidies. But the buying program has lacked transparency and has helped fuel an unruly gold rush characterized by environmentally harmful practices and opaque trading.

Informal and illegal gold mining and trafficking in South America is surging along with bullion prices, which are up more than 50% this year due to central bank purchases and as investors seek havens from mounting government debt.

Through August of this year, Bolivia’s central bank had bought 28.5 metric tons of locally produced gold and monetized 48 tons. But it also sold gold in advance and still must deliver 6.7 tons next year. It paid producers in local currency, indirectly fueling inflation and encouraging smuggling.

The program’s sole purpose was “to feed dollars to a monetary-management system that was absolutely pernicious,” Espinoza said. Gold bought by the bank “very likely does not meet environmental standards, child labor standards, for example, and obviously it would not meet any of the traceability standards established today.”

Without offering details, Espinoza said the new administration intends to keep buying gold but would “reorder” its instruments, ensure environmental compliance, remove gold as a payment method in illegal sectors, and offer cooperative miners better labor conditions by promoting formalization.

“We will intervene there, but this will be coordinated with the central bank, which also has its own ideas,” he said.

(By Sergio Mendoza)

 

Study finds Indigenous-led hunting most effective for tackling deer overabundance on B.C. islands

UBC-led research says the approach delivers the strongest ecological and cultural outcomes

University of British Columbia

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Dr. Tara Martin

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Credit: UBC

As ecosystems in coastal British Columbia disappear due to long-term browsing pressures from overabundant black-tailed deer, a new study led by UBC with Coast Salish Nations and regional research partners identifies the most effective solutions to address deer overabundance on the Southern Gulf Islands.

The research, published in People and Nature, finds Indigenous-led hunting to be the most successful and cost-effective strategy for managing hyperabundant deer when considering ecological and cultural needs. Drawing on both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, the study also highlights the importance of honoring distinct knowledge and value systems equitably in wildlife management.

A growing ecological crisis

Following almost two decades of research led by Dr. Tara Martin from UBC’s Faculty of Forestry, black-tailed deer populations on the Southern Gulf Islands are now estimated to be up to 10 times higher than they were a century ago, due to a combination of human-altered landscapes, restrictions on hunting, and the eradication of predators.

As deer populations grow unchecked, they overbrowse vegetation, prevent forests from regenerating, reduce biodiversity, and disrupt cultural connections to the land.

“For most people these islands look beautiful and natural, but they are entirely degraded,” says Dr. Martin. “The change has been so slow, most people don’t recognize this shift. We’ve found hyperabundant deer are one of the major drivers of this change.”

The consequences are stark. One of B.C.’s most endangered ecosystems, the Garry Oak meadow, is now at risk of irreversible collapse due to overgrazing. Other regions across Canada and the globe are facing similar threats from hyperabundant herbivores including Haida Gwaii, Ontario, Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Inclusive approach to decision-making

Developing deer management strategies that address overpopulation and also support the well-being of people and the land—rather than focusing solely on ecology—is inherently complex.

“This study offers a roadmap to help unpack complicated problems where many values and goals compete, often leading to decision paralysis and inaction” says lead author and doctoral student Sofie McComb. “Hyperabundant deer are damaging ecosystems around the world, and we’re offering a framework that gives decision-makers practical, inclusive solutions.”

Working in collaboration with Coast Salish Nations and local land stewards and knowledge holders, Dr. Martin’s group considered a number of strategies for successful deer management. These included Indigenous-led hunting, improving predator viability, hiring deer reduction specialists, using birth control, increasing licensed hunting, and combining approaches.

Indigenous-led hunting was the only strategy with a high likelihood of being successful and achieving ecological and cultural benefits. Compared to the status quo, Indigenous-led hunting was found to increase the likelihood of maximizing human and ecological wellbeing by almost 60 per cent, and was more than 50 per cent likely to maximize project uptake and implementation goals.

Strategies such as increased licensed hunting were cost-effective from a Western science perspective, as they are low-cost strategies with moderate feasibility, but were less likely to achieve meaningful long-term benefits (less than 30 per cent likelihood).

Cost of inaction

Experts agreed that sticking with the status quo will not improve ecosystem functions and will continue to feed the decision-making paralysis fuelled by a fear of controversy. Researchers warn that delaying action is the most harmful option.

“If we don’t do something soon, the ecosystems will not be recoverable, because there will be nothing left” says Sofie McComb. “The deer are also struggling, and have turned to eating starvation foods. Inaction is action – that is the action that has been chosen and the ecosystem is suffering.”

The study provides an inclusive, transparent framework for communities worldwide facing hyperabundant herbivores. By integrating multiple knowledge systems and weighing feasibility and cost alongside ecological and cultural benefits, decision-makers can chart a path toward recovery that is both effective and socially grounded.

“It’s possible to find solutions to complex environmental issues that are good for people, the land and the deer” says Dr. Martin. “This work shows that restoring cultural sovereignty and ecosystem health can go hand in hand.”

Camera trap image of black-tailed deer grazing

Credit

Tara Martin

---

Journal

People and Nature

DOI

10.1002/pan3.70136 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Article Title

Decision analysis rooted in Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge identifies cost-effective strategies for managing hyperabundant deer to restore keystone places

Article Publication Date

13-Nov-2025

How the 2015 Paris attacks increased police powers and eroded civil liberties

ANALYSIS

In the wake of the November 13, 2015, Paris terror attacks, the French government declared a nationwide state of emergency that gave the authorities sweeping powers to fight terrorism – at the expense of some civil liberties. Ten years later, some of these exceptional legal powers have now passed into everyday law and even greater surveillance measures have been introduced.


Issued on: 10/11/2025 - FRANCE24
By: Romain BRUNET

A Police drone flies over Marseille's Capucins market during the nationwide COVID lockdown on March 24, 2020. © Gerard Julien, AFP

In a matter of hours after the November 13 Paris attacks, the government declared a state of national emergency in France. This had only happened a handful of times before – during France’s conflict with Algeria in the 1950s and '60s, in New Caledonia in 1984 and in 2005 when three weeks of violent riots swept the nation’s suburbs.

Such was the scale of the deadly attacks in Paris and the northern suburb of Saint-Denis that it pushed then president François Hollande to introduce an exceptional legal framework – giving the authorities more power to pursue terrorists and starting a rollback on civil liberties that is still under way today.

The sweeping new laws enacted in the wake of the attacks were far-reaching and supposed to be temporary.

Police were given the power to place anyone under house arrest, without trial, if there were “serious grounds” to believe they posed a threat to public safety or order.

The authorities could order a search on any location used by someone thought to pose the same threat – with a few exemptions for spaces used by politicians, legal professionals and journalists.

Administrative authorities gained the right to seize legally owned weapons and ammunition from owners.

France marks ten years since its worst terrorist attack with solidarity race

© France 24
01:44

And the government was allowed to block any websites thought to be promoting or inciting terrorism and to dissolve charitable organisations that it judged undermined public order.

“In the name of terrorism, which justified everything, extensive powers were given to the executive branch,” says Nathalie Tehio, president of rights organisation la Ligue des droits de l’Homme.

The new expansive powers enabled the French authorities to get quick results when tracking down the perpetrators of the Paris attacks in the weeks following the incident – but they were soon used for other purposes.

“There were an enormous amount of police searches that were not necessarily linked to terrorism but that the police used for other investigations, for legal purposes, but without approval from a judge,” adds Tehio.

The legal framework provided by the state of emergency gave the French government the power to ban protests and deter other forms of activism, even if they had no connection to the attacks.

As France prepared to host the COP21 environmental summit in December 2015, several dozen climate activists found that they had been placed under house arrest for the duration of the conference.
‘Exceptional measures’

The state of emergency was initially supposed to last for three months, but was soon extended to May 2016. After more terrorist attacks in Nice on July 14, 2016, it was extended three more times before finally being lifted on November 1, 2017, almost two years after it was first introduced.

“The problem is that the longer the delay in ending the state of emergency, the harder it is to decide to stop,” says Tehio.

During the two years the legal framework was in place, “the public became accustomed to the idea that these exceptional measures were possible and they went from something that should be exceptional to something that is used to manage the public”, she added.

Shortly before France ended its state of emergency, the government decided to hang on to some of the powers it enabled. An October 2017 anti-terrorism law known as Silt (la loi Sécurité intérieure et Lutte contre le terrorisme) “integrated measures introduced during the state of emergency into every day law”, says Tehio.

House arrest orders were renamed control and surveillance measures, or Micas (mesures individuelles de contrôle administratif et de surveillance), and administrative searches became known as home visits (visites domiciliaires).

Under the law, local authorities were granted the additional rights to control access by establishing security perimeters around locations they considered prime targets for terrorist acts.

The Micas, in particular, demonstrate how the law has eroded the rights of people in France. “The safeguards that are supposed to exist on paper are very relative in practice,” says specialist Nicolas Klausser, le Centre de recherches sociologiques sur le droit et les institutions pénales (Cesdip), a legal research organisation.

“Ninety percent of Micas are approved by administrative judges, who almost never question intelligence reports sent to them by the interior ministry. Before 2015, the interior ministry could only impose asset freezes or travel bans on French nationals, but now it has a considerably wider range of measures at its disposal," he adds.

Today, having any kind of connection to individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses could be enough to prompt a Micas or a home visit, as security figures from the 2024 Paris Olympic games indicate.

A parliamentary security report on the games reported 626 home visits and 547 Micas were implemented during the Olympic period, equivalent to “a level four to five times higher than the annual average observed since 2017”.

The figure is evidence of “the extended scope” of the amount of police interventions the type of person the law is able to target, the researcher says, with serious consequences for those involved who may find themselves unable to work and at risk of losing their income.
‘Neutralising internal enemies’

A steady influx of new laws since 2017 have reinforced France’s legal arsenal to fight against terrorism and expanded the reach of the intelligence services and the military.

In this timeframe, major events, such as the Olympics and the Covid pandemic, have provided unique contexts that have accelerated an overall restriction on individual freedoms.

In the past three years, a 2021 law obliged charities receiving public subsidies to sign a “commitment contract”, reinforcing compliance with the principles of the Republic; a 2022 law authorised the use of surveillance drones on internal security grounds; and a 2023 law, brought in for use during the Olympics, allowed the use of algorithmic video surveillance on an experimental basis until March 2025.

Critics claim Paris using 2024 Games to introduce Big Brother video surveillance

“First they say it’s experimental, then it becomes normal,” says Tehio. “It’s a maddening engine of repression that never has enough. First it's drones, then AI, then facial recognition. For a long time we pointed the finger at China and said it was a dictatorship [for using such surveillance methods] but now France finds itself doing the same thing.”

The government insists that such measures are necessary to counter terrorism, which is still a high-level threat in France according to the intelligence services.

The director of France’s anti-terror unit, la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure, said in February 2025 that 79 planned attacks had been prevented in France since 2015.

“It’s a standard bit of rhetoric from the interior ministry. These measures were initially intended to ‘remove doubts' and in practice they are often not directly linked to imminent threats,” says Klausser.

“The existence of these measures clouds the classic boundary between administrative and criminal law. The State is drawing on the same mechanisms used in former colonies or immigration law to neutralise its internal enemies,” he adds.

The researcher notes the potential danger of a future far-right government being tempted to expand the scope of individuals targeted by such tools.

But the far-reaching power of the judiciary is increasingly woven into life in France, even for law-abiding citizens. An Amnesty International report found that of around 11,000 people arrested during France’s Yellow Vest protests in 2018-19, just 3,000 led to convictions.

When President Emmanuel Macron was travelling the country in spring 2023 amid contested pension reforms, protesters who wanted to show opposition by banging pots and pans were blocked from approaching areas where the president might have been.

"The risk is that we become accustomed to the loss of freedom, surveillance and an increasingly authoritarian state,” says Tehio. “It’s a dangerous trend that is currently under way, leading towards the dismantling of all dissent. Many people are now giving up on protesting, including advocacy organisations. We are in the process of diminishing our democracy.”

This article was adapted from the original in French by Joanna York.

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France's new overseas minister due in New Caledonia to revive dialogue

France’s overseas minister Naïma Moutchou faces a tough debut in New Caledonia, where economic hardship and political tensions are testing Paris’s resolve to rebuild trust in the South Pacific territory.


Issued on: 09/11/2025 - RFI

Naïma Moutchou, France’s new minister for the overseas territories, begins a four-day visit to New Caledonia, aiming to revive political dialogue and tackle the archipelago’s deepening economic crisis. © AFP

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France’s new minister for the overseas territories, Naïma Moutchou, begins a four-day visit to New Caledonia on Monday with a double mission – to restart long-stalled political dialogue and to take stock of an economy still reeling from last year’s unrest.

Her trip comes at a delicate moment for the South Pacific archipelago, which has been mired in an unprecedented financial crisis since the violent riots of 2024.

The turmoil caused billions of euros in damage, sent the local economy into freefall and left deep scars across the territory’s fragile political landscape.

According to government estimates, New Caledonia’s GDP plunged by 13 percent in 2024, and hopes of a recovery this year have failed to materialise.

Fiscal revenues are also shrinking sharply – down by 26 percent instead of the 20 percent originally forecast – putting even more strain on already overstretched public finances.

New Caledonia independence bloc rejects deal giving powers but no referendum
Economy in freefall

To stave off bankruptcy, the territory took out a one-billion-euro state-guaranteed loan from the French Development Agency (AFD). But most of that safety net has already been used, leaving just €200 million earmarked for 2026 and 2027.

“I don’t give much for our collective chances,” warned Philippe Michel, head of the anti-independence Calédonie Ensemble group in the territorial Congress. He estimates a “gap” of around 500 million euros to balance next year’s budget. “And it’s not with the usurious interest rates imposed by the State that we’re going to get through this,” he added bluntly.

The AFD loan has pushed New Caledonia’s debt-to-GDP ratio to a worrying 360 percent, with repayments due to begin in 2026.

The interest rate – set at 4.54 percent – has caused an outcry among local politicians, who are calling for “national solidarity” and the conversion of part of the loan into direct grants.

However, the upcoming Overseas Territories budget, to be debated in mid-November as part of France’s 2026 finance bill, includes no such provision.

Hardship and calls for reform

The social fallout from the crisis is equally alarming. Around 11,000 jobs have been lost in the territory of 260,000 people since last year’s violence.

In Dumbéa-sur-mer, a suburb of Nouméa that was particularly hard hit, mayor Yohann Lecourieux of the conservative Les Républicains party said the situation was deteriorating rapidly.

“We have 800 fewer pupils eating in our school canteens because families simply can’t afford it anymore,” he said. “We’ve been promised an envelope for social aid, but it’s nowhere near enough given the scale of the hardship.”

In the rural commune of Bourail, mayor Patrick Robelin painted a slightly less bleak picture – at least for now.

“It’s harvest season, and seasonal jobs have helped families make it to the end of the year,” he said. “But I’m very worried about what’s coming next.” He urged “far-reaching reforms” and “a collective wake-up call” to prevent a deeper crisis.

The two associations representing New Caledonia’s mayors have written to Minister Moutchou to raise the alarm over the situation in their municipalities.

They are expected to meet her on the final day of her visit.

(with newswires)

 

From degradation to restoration: Remote sensing tracks Asia’s struggle for sustainable drylands

Journal of Remote Sensing

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Study area overview of Asian drylands showing (A) national and provincial boundaries, (B) elevation in meters, and (C) current land cover classification (2020).

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Across Asia's vast drylands, a new study reveals a critical imbalance between degradation and recovery. Researchers analyzed two decades of satellite data and developed an integrated ecohealth-neutrality framework to track how land ecosystems have changed from 2000 to 2020. The findings show that while ecohealth began improving after 2012, degradation still dominates, with about 22% of the region's land (196 million hectares) remains degraded, compared to only 13% (119 million hectares) showing recovery. This 8% “land debt” indicates the fragile balance between human activity and ecosystem resilience. The study calls for tailored restoration strategies to close this gap and achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) across Asia by 2030.

Drylands, covering over 40% of Earth's surface, sustain billions of people who depend on them for food, water, and livelihoods. Yet these ecosystems, especially in Asia, are rapidly losing their vitality due to overgrazing, deforestation, and climate stress. One in three hectares of Asian dryland is now degraded, with crop yields projected to drop by half by mid-century. Despite major restoration programs like the Great Green Wall and Landscape Partnership Asia, progress has remained fragmented. Facing these persistent challenges, scientists recognized the urgent need for a continent-wide monitoring approach to quantify ecohealth changes, understand their drivers, and determine whether restoration efforts are keeping pace with degradation.

A team from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with partners from Rwanda, Belgium, and New Caledonia, has mapped the ecological health of Asia's drylands. Their research, published (DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0897) on October 10, 2025, in Journal of Remote Sensing, integrates the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) framework with a regional ecohealth assessment model to track ecosystem vitality, soil moisture, and land use dynamics over 20 years. The results reveal a compelling story of recovery and degradation, showing that Asia's drylands remain in fragile equilibrium between continued decline and measurable improvement.

The study examined dryland regions stretching from Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, to East Asia, encompassing Mongolia and China’s arid provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, and Nei Mongol. Using high-resolution satellite data, researchers quantified ecosystem vitality and land provisioning capacity by combining indicators such as vegetation indices (NDVI), soil moisture, topography, and land cover. They found that ecohealth declined steadily until 2012 but began improving thereafter, especially in East Asia, where large-scale afforestation and conservation programs took effect. Gansu, Ningxia, and Nei Mongol emerged as “bright spots” of recovery, while Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan, remains the most degraded. Within the LDN framework, about 22% of land showed signs of degradation and 13% improvement, leaving a “land debt” of 76.9 million hectares that must be restored to achieve balance. The research identifies land use change, urbanization, and mismanaged water systems as major drivers of degradation, while reforestation and sustainable rangeland management offer promising paths toward recovery.

“LDN is more than a target; it's a test of our ability to coexist with the land,” said Dr Yaning Chen, corresponding author of the study. “Our satellite-based framework reveals that while East Asia’s drylands are bouncing back through science-driven restoration, Central Asia's ecosystems remain vulnerable to unsustainable irrigation and land use. Achieving neutrality means more than offsetting losses, it requires understanding local realities and strengthening cooperation across borders. Only by aligning human activity with ecological resilience can we restore the health of Asia's drylands.”

The findings provide a practical blueprint for achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 15.3 on LDN. By identifying where and why ecohealth declines, the framework helps policymakers target interventions such as drought-tolerant afforestation, efficient water management, and climate-smart agriculture. The study's “avoid-reduce-reverse” pyramid offers a stepwise strategy: prevent new degradation, rehabilitate affected areas, and enhance ecosystem resilience. This approach can be applied to other arid regions worldwide, linking scientific monitoring with community action. Ultimately, restoring Asia's drylands is not only about reclaiming lost land; it's about securing the ecological foundation for sustainable development and human well-being.

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References

DOI

10.34133/remotesensing.0897

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0897

Funding information

Study area overview of Asian drylands showing (A) national and provincial boundaries, (B) elevation in meters, and (C) current land cover classification (2020).

About Journal of Remote Sensing

The Journal of Remote Sensing, an online-only Open Access journal published in association with AIR-CAS, promotes the theory, science, and technology of remote sensing, as well as interdisciplinary research within earth and information science.

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Journal

Journal of Remote Sensing

DOI

10.34133/remotesensing.0897 

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Asian Dryland Ecohealth Progress for Land Degradation Neutrality