Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, France’s first climate refugees: “We are trying to get to safety before it is too late”

Miquelon is preparing to move before the sea forces the issue. The settlement, home to about 600 people, faces the threat of submersion by around 2100, making the tiny French territory an unlikely symbol of climate displacement.

The planned relocation would place the community 1.5 kilometres from its historic site. The project is led by the mayor and supported by the French state. It has also pushed Miquelon into an unfamiliar spotlight, with journalists arriving and a visit by President Emmanuel Macron expected in September.

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon rarely appears on the news radar. The archipelago lies more than 4,000 kilometres from mainland France and covers only 242 square kilometres. Its 5,800 residents affectionately call it “the rock,” while the territory’s distance has long been summed up by the phrase “out of sight, out of mind.”

That isolation has not prevented the territory from becoming part of French political debate. In 2025, Laurent Wauquiez suggested turning it into a “refuge” for people subject to orders to leave France. Residents responded with humour, recalling that people in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon are French and proud to be so.

Now the territory carries another, more painful distinction: becoming France’s first climate refugees. The development concerns Miquelon in particular, where residents are trying to move to safety before the projected submersion becomes reality.

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We are trying to get to safety before it is too late.