The figures are well-known, but it’s worth recalling them. Thanks to its overseas territories, France today possesses the world’s second-largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) behind the United States and ahead of Australia, with nearly 11 million km². A vast expanse that extends across all oceans. In the Atlantic with the Antilles, French Guiana and Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, in the Indian Ocean with Réunion, Mayotte and the Scattered Islands, in the Pacific with New Caledonia, Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna. France is also present in Antarctica with the TAAF, the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (Crozet archipelago, Kerguelen, Amsterdam and Saint-Paul).
This presence allows France to be the only nation in the world to have territories in all major oceans, except the Arctic. The United Kingdom also possesses several overseas territories such as Bermuda, Gibraltar or the Falklands, but its presence is not as extensive across all oceans. The United States has a strong presence in the Pacific with notably Hawai’i and American Samoa, in the Atlantic with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but not in the Indian Ocean.
This presence in the three major oceans of the planet gives France a strategic role in international negotiations on the exploitation of marine resources, biodiversity, and the fight against piracy and illegal fishing. “We must fully grasp the importance of this maritime domain. First is the United States, second Australia, but we clearly understand that the United States and Australia achieve this through the size of their mainland territories, which is absolutely not the case for our country. Exactly 96% of France’s maritime domain relies on its overseas territories. And therefore, the overseas territories are France’s great opportunity, and also that of the European Union. But this incredible potential only wears out if we use it,” indicates Christian Buchet, historian and geopolitician, specialist in seas and oceans.