Christophe Chevillon
PROFILE
Christophe Chevillon leads the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project’s work to create a large, highly protected marine reserve in the waters off the French territory of New Caledonia. The project builds on Global Ocean Legacy’s 10 years of helping to safeguard more than 6.3 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) of ocean with the goal of increasing the number of fully protected parks in the sea from nine to 15 by 2022.
Chevillon started his career as a marine expert with the South Pacific Commission for Applied Geosciences in Suva, Fiji, then as researcher on New Caledonia lagoons for the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), and later led the sea and lagoon protection office in the Environmental Division for New Caledonia’s Southern Province, where he managed and supervised 24 protected areas and two World Heritage sites. He also recently served as an adviser to the IRD director as Pacific coordinator for geostrategy and partnerships.
Chevillon holds a bachelor’s degree in nature and life sciences from Aix-Marseille II University in France, a master’s in oceanography and a postgraduate diploma of advanced studies in ocean science from the Marseilles Oceanographic Centre, and a doctorate in oceanography from Aix-Marseille II University.
recent WORK
Article
April 29, 2025New Caledonia Approves 50-Year Moratorium on Deep-Seabed Mining
In the ocean depths off the South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, a vast array of marine species thrive in ecosystems found nowhere else. Deep-sea areas—200 meters (656 feet) or more below the...
Article
March 1, 2022To Better Protect New Caledonia's Vibrant Ocean, Locals Brandish Their Creativity
The people of New Caledonia, a remote French territory in the South Pacific Ocean, have long relied on a healthy and thriving ocean to protect their way of life.