A group of New Caledonia's traditional Kanak chiefs say talks went well with the French government on a bid to declare the territory's reef as a Unesco World Heritage site.
An application has to be submitted by France by Friday after earlier attempts to get world heritage status were deemed insufficiently documented.
With a length of 16 hundred kilometers, the reef surrounding New Caledonia is the world's second largest, the only larger reef is the Great Barrier.
The Kanak delegation's leader, Jean Wanabo, from Ouvea Island says the land and sea need to be protected for future generations.
The Chiefs say they are not against nickel processing, but say the environment should be taken into account
