Many countries have recognized climate change due to human activities as one of the most critical issues facing the modern world. However, validating predictive models of the potential anthropogenic impact on shaping the Earth's surface requires the examination and documentation of analogous tectonic and climate changes of the past, working with the paradigm that past environmental changes are keys to understanding the future. A France-New Zealand research program, which also involves institutions from several other countries, aims to disentangle the impact of tectonics and climate on the landscape evolution of New Zealand over the past million years, at a very high resolution timescale—with steps as small as 100 years, i.e., relating to events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and cyclones. The 5-year “Matacore” program (whose name derives from the Matakaoa debris flow coring program, although the program scope is larger than that) began in January 2006 during Leg 152 of R/V Marion Dufresne. The research team collected 31 sediment cores, cumulating 600 meters of soft sediment, during a 15-day survey around New Zealand. Preliminary results of the program show complex interactions between tectonics and climate.